The Mark of Black: The Oneshot Chronicles
by shkkf
Summary: A one-shot fanfic in honour of Captrandom's succesfull "Mark of Black" story. Warning: Story can contain adult material at certain points of varioues kinds.
1. Chapter 1: The new Crewmember

Dear readers,

Because of certain complications revolving around the original "The Mark of Black", I have decided that I'll be reviewing my entire one-shot for the moment. Seeing as CaptRandom himself wishes for a more independent one-shot on my behalf, I have decided to go back more in time rather then starting at chapter 32. Therefore I have canceled that part until my own timeline collides with his.

1.) The Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet & Clank, but I certainly wish I did

2.) I am not in total agreement with only being only able to use up to two genres when creating a story. I will say that this story is a DRAMA/ANGST, but note that it will also include FRIENDSHIP and ROMANCE.

3.) This story contains Yaoi, **and it looks like will include Hetero themes as well (Perhaps yuri as well, it all depends on what readers want and what I find best furthers the story and character development)**, simple as that. It will become obvious early on in the story. If you do not like things like that, please do not read. Tough it will be stated if there are lemon scenes!

All Ratchet & Clank characters are property of Insomniac, all other characters are property of CaptRandom

(Next Chapters take place after Chapter 13 but before Chapter 14)

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**The new Crewmember**

A computer behind him beeped and the doctor the glanced at it, "Oh good, the blood work is finished," he said as he walked over towards the machine to look at the printout.

He placed the sheet onto his clipboard and began looking over it. Every once in a while, he would tap on the sheet and mumble under his breath, "Hmmm, well he isn't related to Captain Ratchet, but a few of these genetic similarities are odd." He continued looking over the reading but stopped when he reached the information on Abel's blood.

The doctor let out a gasp and the clipboard fell to the floor. He blinked for a moment before he shot his gaze at Abel, "… Simply amazing!"

He picked up the clipboard and examined it once more before walking over to Abel and looking over his right hand.

"I have to tell the Captain!" he exclaimed before turning to leave the room.

He only managed a single step before he felt a great figurative chill creep down his mechanical spine. He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly glanced back to see, a very much awake, Abel, who was giving him a very dark look.

"The results of your examinations will remain between us," said Abel to the doctor with a growl, "I do not want anything to push away Ratchet or the others…" His expression suddenly became sinister, "Speak one word of you findings and I'll make sure that it's your last…"

The doctor was stunned at what he had heard, but more by the fact of what he had seen on the sketch. But those words Abel had said made him shiver in fear. "I…I won't say a word as with…(gulp) other patience, this information will stay confidential, I promise." Said the doctor who was shivering where he stood. To his surprise Abel welcomed him with a warm smile "Glad you see it may way doc." He said blinking an eye to the robot standing in front of him before walking towards the door leaving the robot to do his job.

Once outside the infirmary Abel was greeted by several of the crewmember who congratulated him on his achievement in beating Ratchet. Something which seemed was a hard to thing to accomplish according to some. "You sure gave the Captain a run for his money sir!" said a robot named Y79 "Not only that but did you see fast he could punch? That was just wow Y79" "I noticed that D40, I was there also you know!" Abel stood there rolling his eyes as the robots chattered at themselves. They never even knew Abel had gone towards the bridge. As the door opened Abel was congratulated by the Q-force members.

Firs of was Clank who wanted to know how he was able to "foresee" Ratchet's moves as he had never seen an organic life form to be that fast at response. Tough Abel just said it was practise and that Ratchet was just tired from the run. "Well zis is quit an accomplish mend! Would zy care for a running match?" asked Helga in a somewhat very enthusiastic state as she had never seen anyone run like that before and wondered if Abel could keep track of her as well.

Skidd just gave Abel a high five, but to everyone's surprise Abel didn't know what to do. "Umm… what are you doing?" "C'mon dude! Don't tell me ya never gave a high five b'fore!" asked the skateboarder champion. "High five?" "Yea like this bro!" said Skidd as he showed how it worked. Skrunch and Qwark just congratulated him on becoming the newest member on the ship (even if it was a controversy to the standard procedure)! They were however interrupted as Abel's stomach began to growl loudly, making All laugh out much to his embarrassment. "Seems like you can use a nice meal. I'll bring ya to the mess hall… Perhaps then you can explain to me how you fixed that bug!" "Sure All was it? I'm starving…" said the blue eyed Lombax to the half man half android.

As they left the bridge towards the hallway, Abel was already busy with telling All how he had fixed the bug by just diverting the power from the C-grid towards the inductor coil of…( let's skip this shall we?)… As they passed by the VR chamber, Abel saw that there was a lot of commotion around the area at which All responded that his chamber was being prepared for him. "So I'll be sleeping there huh? Seems like you people are doing a lot of effort for me… And it…" "Actually it was on captain Ratchet's orders that you'll sleep over there." This caught the Lombax ears rather fast. "Ratchet said that?" with a glimmer of happiness in his voice as he almost jumped at hearing the other Lombax's name. "Well yea, but let's continue I'm getting more hungry by the minute." "Huh? Your half an android why do you need food anyway?!" asked a confused Abel who now stared the mechanical parts of the man. "Mind you that I'm still organic for 75% and they need the right fuel to work properly you know. Some Qwark cereals will do just fine thank you very much." It seemed that Abel had aggravated All a bit, which only made him chuckle in response to it.

As the door to the mess hall opened at last Abel was stunned to see how many people and robots worked on the ship. It's true he had heard already of the "Pride of the Galactic Navy" but it was still a sight to behold! He took a few steps into the bluish room. The walls were a very light blue of colour and the floor unlike the other rooms was a nice white colour. It didn't take long before he noticed something more fascinating for his nostrils to pick up.

"What is that smell?!" he asked jumping into the air. "Well that's the specialty of today. Stuffed chicken á la Helga's. Tough I must warn you it's a rather spicy dish!" said All as he scratched the back of his head. "I would rather recommend the soufflé! It tastes much better you know!" but the Lombax couldn't care less. Within a second he had grabbed a plate and filled it up until it could hold nothing else. He searched for the nearest available table there was and sat down. Letting his senses take in the colour, the smell, the taste of it all. Until it hit him "Crap I didn't grab anything to drink yet!" Abel said as he searched for the nearest drinking fountain. "What no fountains! What do you people drink then?" All just sat down in front of the Lombax as he told him that they need to grab there drinks over there where he got his food from. The room felt like a whirlwind had entered once Abel ran towards the beverages not choosing anything just grabbing the nearest one and then running back to his lunch. His stomach urged him to dig in and just eat it. Well what one could see then and there would even frighten almost everyone. As All was watching the spectacle from a few meters away, he said towards the other crewmembers to stay away from Abel if they valued there limbs! "One could loose it in there!" he said chuckling.

It didn't take long before Abel was completely full and even let out a loud burp, to which he turned red in disgust of his table manners (or what was left of it before he even started eating!).

Ratchet himself who had been busy with some of the robots to convert his room to fit for two Lombaxes, just entered the mess hall in time to watch the spectacle of seeing Abel eat. He cocked an eyebrow towards All, who himself gave signs back to Ratchet that he as well didn't have a clue of what was going on at that table. "Abel?" asked Ratchet towards the other male Lombax who was still drinking the beverage he had chosen. "Next time give us a warning when you'll be in the mess hall ok?" "What did I do something wrong then?" asked Abel who now was staring into those big greenish eyes of Ratchet. "Well" ratchet said giggling a bit "It is so that next time we can put up a sign that people won't get to close to you." This remark didn't do very good for Abel's image but to some people's surprise he began to laugh at the situation. "Well next time you give me a warning that food could taste THIS good!" he said as he licked off his lips with his tongue. "What do you about a small tour? I can show you where you will sleep and other important facilities." Said the green eyed Lombax, whilst smiling to Abel, who in turn turned a little red on the cheeks at this. Ratchet however didn't seem to notice it at all. "So let's begin shall we?"


	2. Chapter 2: Starship Phoenix

Dear readers,

Seeing as I myself have had some time today I decided to load up a new chapter as well! I hope you will like it as much as the first one. (Even with my drastic changes to where I originally started)

Enjoy

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**Starship Phoenix**

Ratchet cocked an eyebrow towards his companion who kept looking at Ratchet "What! Do I have something on my face?" "Nothing Ratchet, I was admiring the view… What is over there anyway?" as he pointed towards a small passage next to the Gadgetron vendor. "That hallway leads towards the showers and the other crewmembers quarters. If you wish we can go there, your call." He hoped that Abel would say no, because frankly? He didn't care much for tours around the ship. "Well if I'm going to stay here I will need to know the ship. So yea let's go there." That response made Ratchet give out a very small sigh as he wondered what he had gotten himself into this time.

As both Lombaxes made there way towards the bathroom it hit Ratchet like a brick. "Abel sorry, I need to go quickly there is something I still had to do today! It's very important." "Perhaps I can help you?" asked Abel with a happy voice but his face changed more sad when Ratchet told him not to. "Just ummm, well walk around and meet me back at the hallway in say 30 minutes ok?" as Abel sighed at seeing Ratchet run he himself walked further observing all the rooms and chambers he could find.

Ratchet ran as fast as he could swear to himself how he could have forgotten it! "I'm such an oaf today." He said angrily as he made his way towards the bridge. Hitting the control panel and giving the machine order to transport him to the bridge as quickly as it could. The machine began to move towards the bridge. The compartment opened and Ratchet quickly hastened towards his controls quickly jumping into his chair.

He began to type something on the keyboard and within a few seconds a large screen in front of him began to light up. "Please Standby" could be read of the blackish screen. "Come on pick it up. How can I have forgotten it!!!" But before he was able to finish of the sentence the screen changed from black to another image. One could see the slender figure of a women clad in a purple uniform, whose tail swept from one side to another. Her arms were folded across her chest and one could hear the tapping of a foot on the ground. Ratchet got a bit nervous at the sight before him. It was Sasha alright but she didn't look very content at seeing him at all. "Hi Sashs, I am terribly sorry that I didn't call you earlier… There were some 'problems' we had to overcome here." He said being very careful not to spill anything that might upset the Cazar. Sasha gave Ratchet an imminent look "A 'problem'? What kind problem then?" "Well we found a ship floating in space and we went to check it out. We found a survivor on it, that's why I was late." said Ratchet not trying to give away to much information at once. "Well then hotshot, you're off the hook. But next time don't try that again" she said winking to him and shaking her hips a bit in a somewhat very adult manner towards him. This made him swallow hard, and even harder for him was not trying to drool at that moment as ratchet found Sasha looked stunning, but he quickly got a hold of himself "Oh I almost forgot Sasha, happy birthday… And sorry for being late I'm truly sorry! And I'l assure you that I'll give you your 'present' soon." He said in the cutest tone he could almost making Sasha melt then and there whilst giggling at what Ratchet actually mend. "I'm sure you will Captain. But I need to go now." She said blinking an eye towards him.

Meanwhile not far from the bridge Abel was still searching around, even if the Phoenix wasn't as grand as the Dark Spectrum he was on, he was still amazed at the technology and how many people (and robots) that worked here. He was so occupied he didn't even see Clank coming out of the door in front of him. "Ooh my!" said the small robot as Abel almost stepped on him. "WOW Clank! Sorry man, didn't see you there… I should be more careful where I step… hehehe." said the Lombax at he small robot. "That is alright Abel, it happens quit a lot with Ratchet as well. I am used to it." Tough Clank found it a bit annoying that there were now TWO Lombaxes that might trample him! Abel found himself overcome with guilt and proposed to do something later on with Clank. "Care for a match of Chess perhaps? I heard you're good at it so perhaps you would accept the challenge." "I would be honoured to have a game with you, Abel… heheheheeee" giggled Clank at the taught of winning from another Lombax. Abel didn't understand what Clank found so amusing but he couldn't care less. He made his way over towards the elevator and went down. As the doors of the elevator slowly opened the same happened with Abel's eyes. He couldn't believe what he saw, there were a few if not a dozen of fighters in here. "This must be a hanger of some sort!" he said with glee as his eyes widened more at how shiny and bright the spacecrafts looked. As soon as he approached one of them he heard someone "You like?" said the voice. It sounded like a robot voice and it came from behind Abel, as soon as he turned around he was greeted by a 6 feet robot who unlike those on the upper level of the ship had a more orange kind of armour on. "Those are the standard F-304 interceptors. Nothing is faster or stronger then these birds! Heck I should know I've flown with these babies's during the war." said the robot proudly at the small Lombax. He even said how many enemy Tyrranoid fighters he had taken down, probably to impress the new member of the crew. "So you're a pilot here? How come I haven't seen any others like you then?" "Well we stay on the lower decks in case of emergency's. But those things rarely happen." Abel walked over towards one of the planes, the ship was very small only fitted for two persons tops. One chair was in front of the cockpit which obviously was for the pilot, the other one was mounted a little bit more to the back perhaps for a gunner or some other important function. It was of a very flat design and the wings were around 5-8 meters (15 to 24 feet) wide on each side. Beneath the wing hang several rocket launchers probably for 'intercepting' enemy crafts. On the front of the ships nose was a small rail gun Abel had never seen such a device before. "What is that?" pointing towards the black gun sticking out just below the nose of the craft. "Oh that little gizmo? That is a rail gun standard issue in the Galactic Navy mind you. Fires bullets at great velocity! It can gather up to around speeds of Mach 10 which is 3500 cubits per second at sea level mind you!" This startled Abel a bit as he had never known that a weapon could fire at that great a speed. He wanted to ask something to the pilot, but was hesitant for some reason. He thanked the pilot for the information and went back towards the elevator. Seeing as his 30 minutes were almost over.

He made his way out of the elevator towards the main hallway where a small fur ball was waiting for another fur ball to meet him. "I was almost about to give an order to search for you." Ratchet gave a small smile to Abel. "Where did you run of to anyway?" he asked rudly at the other male "Ummm I was at the hangar, one of the pilots shared some Intel with me about it." "Next time inform me before you go on small adventures like that! The hangar could have been decompressed you know. And whilst robots don't have the problem of breathing, we sadly do." This gave a small laugh out of Abel which stunned Ratchet as he didn't understand how Abel could not see the danger he could have put himself into. "Riiiight… Well let's move on shall we? I got a message e a few minutes back that our room is ready." Abel looked a bit curious at him "Yup you heard it right, you are sleeping in my room." Ratchet soon wished he hadn't said that as Abel lunged forward at him which resulted in both of them falling down on the cold floor beneath them. Ratchet even had a hard time to breathe by the weight of Abel on top of him. "… Abel…Can't…breath….Gaah" he was relieved as the pressure on his chest was lifted and oxygen could finally get back into his lungs. "We are gonna be roomies!!!" said Abel completely overtaken by joy even going as far as what seemed to be a small dance. "Don't get your horses up yet! There are some rules you know!" "I don't mind, what are they?!" "Firstly, never wake up the captain for any reason… Secondly bathing is required as I don't want our quarters to be filthy or smelly. And thirdly lights go out at 23:00." Abel eyed at ratchet with surprise "Is it only that? I was thinking of actual problems. Not small things like this." He said sticking out his tongue towards ratchet, who turned a little red, finding it rude what Abel just did. As both of them walked into the large room the first thing that the new Lombax noticed was the large flat screen television and the VG-9000. "You got a VG-9000!!! Man you must be one lucky dude!" Ratchets seeing his opportunity to impress Abel more "Not only that but it includes a Manex Fireball pro controller, VR headset and a Zero-G dancepad attachment as well!" he said in a tone that would make anyone feel poor. Then again it was a state of the art gaming system.

"My bed is over there." As he pointed towards his right side, which showed a king size bed. It was covered by greenish silk cheets. The pillows also were fabricated out of silk. "Over there is your own bed, now I don't know what do you prefer? I can easily have it created towards your liking." But it seemed that wouldn't be necessary as Abel himself was already jumping up and down the bed whilst shouting something that ratchet didn't quit understood. "Oh yea we eat at 18:00 so be there in time or you'l need to eat Helga's stew!" said ratchet as he got disgusted at the thinking of Helga's cooking. "Sounds delicioues! No worry's I'l be on time." Said Abel still hopping on the bed as ratchet left the room, the automatic door closing behind him as he left towards the hallway.

"Hey Ratchet, buddy, wassn't that a great idea of mine?..." said Qwark towards the Lombax as he had entered the hallway. "What do you mean Qwark? Because frankly, I can't follow you!" "Why having that Avel?" "Abel!" said Ratchet with a low growl as he bared a teeth or two "Whatever, towards our crew. Yes only I ,Captain Qwark, could have done something so supersioues like having him to be on our crew." Ratchet wanted to point out of the word Qwark just used "Umm Qwark you din…" "Ratchet I do hope that you shall once know that being a Captain is not the hardest job on this ship. But then again who has a harder job then me? Hehehe right?!" asked the man at Ratchet, who himself almost couldn't contain his laughter no more. "Well Qwark, perhaps they need your great 'assistance' somewhere?" "Your right! This ship needs a man with my talent, a man with my charism and intelect… Whose handsomeness can not be contained by anything. People would murder for just a small drop of my raw animal instincts… One ion of my well formed body..." "Umm Qwark can we speed this up? I've got places to be you know!" said ratchet a little annoyed "Let's see, hard job, charism, intelect, handsome, instincts… ah yes! IRON HARD ABS!!!... Ok I'm done." "Finally" said Ratchet on a very low voice to make sure Qwark haddn't heard him say it.

As soon as Ratchet had goten himself out of another one of Qwark's speeches, he ran fast towards the bridge, he had something to prepare and it had to be done before 18:00… "Let's hope Abel won't find out!"

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A small update I know, I do hope that this chapter was not a bit to over the top or the exact opposite. As I am still trying to get a right feeling for it!


	3. Chapter 3: Presents

Dear readers,

I'm happy to announce the third chapter. Nothing more to add to this actually. It is a short chapter but it was late last night so I apologize for that. I am creating new ideas which I type as soon as I can.

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**Presents**

17:55 Starship Phoenix

The hallway was empty, as was the bridge. It frightened Abel a bit, like the ship was deserted all of a sudden. An hour ago he had still seen several robots walking up and the ship patrolling and done whatever they did for a living but now it felt eerie. He couldn't but think back to when Ratchet found him on the ship… The bodies that lay there on the floor. Killed by his own brother. He knew he was save, he knew but still the silence on the Phoenix crept into his fur as at began to stand up. Only hearing faint sounds of lamps or devices going on and out every once and then.

As quickly as he could he made his way towards the main hallway. "I knew I shouldn't have gone to the hangar again! Dammit, what is with me and machines! It's like a got a darn affinity towards em or something…" Abel said as he walked towards the mess hall still trying to figure out where everybody was. As he arrived at the mess hall he saw that the lights weren't on, the darkness that was in that room. The black cold feeling he got from just standing there as his hart began to beat faster and faster with every step he had taken. "I need to know what happened! I must go forward I…I can't go back not now." As he gathered whatever nerve he had left he stepped into the darkness.

All of a sudden a bright light had engulfed him and Abel's body tensed ready to fight if needed. But it never came, he was blinded for a second until "SURPRISE ABEL!!!!!" shouted everyone in the room as the lights went on. "What?!" said Abel a bit confused, he still didn't fully understand what had happened but as soon as he saw everyone standing in front of him with colourful hats. A huge banner hang across the room, it was a bluish colour with green letters spelling the word "congratulation" on it. "What is this about?" asked Abel to the closest robot he could find. "Well sir it is a party in honour of you for entering the team. Captain Ratchet along with the Q-Force found that it would be appropriate!" said the mechanical being towards the Lombax. Having forgotten his fear he tried to search for any familiar faces, after searching across the entire room he finally found Skidd and what seemed to be a large box a red big box with a yellow bow on top of it. "Yo Abel dude, the guys and I well we were thinking hey who not a party, ya dig man? And well congrats on joining the team!" As he then gave the oversized gift to the Lombax. It was easily the height of a Clank or bigger making Abel almost fall to his feet. Quickly putting it to the ground Abel saw an entire table full of gifts, with a certain Captain standing next to them. The ears of the blue eyed Lombax began to straighten up at the sight of Ratchet, but even more because of the large gifts on the table next to him. "Aw you guys, you didn't need to do that you know…" "It's tradition you know to welcome a new crewmember this way. Besides it wouldn't feel right if we did not do it." Said Ratchet with a happy voice "Ya zis is good!" said Helga before going back to Qwark. "What's with Helga?" asked Abel "She sometimes behaves like that after drinking a few beers. Don't pay attention to that… Besides don't you want to open up your presents?" that last word was one that ratchet would regret when he saw Abel ran towards the table, he almost ran over a couple of robots and people in the process as he ran to his presents.

He opened them with lightning speed, each time tearing of the fabric of the box and then opening it. He was so enthusiastic that some began to think he never had a present before. Once the last present was unwrapped Abel gave out a small whimper, almost letting a tear drop onto the floor. "Aren't you happy with the present?" asked some of robots. "I'm filled with joy actually…" "Organic life forms are so weird! They bleed when there happy." Said one of the bots "Tell me about one time a saw a…" Abel turned away to see Ratchet holding one last present. "Here I got something especially for you from me. Let's say it's a thank you gift." said the Lombax to his friend. It was much much smaller then the others had given, but he still unwrapped it as fast as he could. Inside the box was a smaller box filled with air holes. "Why are there holes in this one?" he asked cocking an eyebrow towards Ratchet who just put on a very big smile. "You'll see once you open it!" As Abel grabbed the lid of the box his eyes grew the widest ever seen by anyone before melting completely at the little creature he saw. "This looks like… How in the universe?" the small creature looked exactly like Ratchet only 1/10 of his regular size. "You like?" he said to Abel who couldn't find words to describe his feelings. "It's what they call a 'Battle Ratchet'… I had a run in with a maniac called Emperor Otto who actually used my DNA to clone an entire army of well me." He shuddered at the experience that had happened less then a year back.

The small Ratchet was asleep in the box which made most people give out a small 'awww' much to Ratchet's dismay. "Do remember that he needs to be fed three times a day… Needs regular activity and oh don't let them get near weaponry they tend to start blowing things up." Reminded the Lombax at his friend. The small creature itself began to wake up. As it saw Abel's face, it instinctively began to try and say something. Sadly the poor creature couldn't say a word. Afterwards Abel got informed that it was a 'fresh' clone and therefore needed to learn everything still, from speaking to walking. But the first thing it would see it would be seen as the 'mother'. "Hey there little one, my name is Abel." Said the blue eyed Lombax to his new pet. "Thanks Ratchet, I really appreciate this! I can't thank you all enough" he said. The silence that came over them was only interrupted by Skidd "Yo dudes let's dance!!!"

A disco ball lowered it itself from the roof, as robots and people alike began to dance to the rhythm of the beat. Except Abel who had begun to play with the small pet he had gotten from Ratchet. "Ooh yea Skidd McMarx is in the house people." Said Skidd as he began to shake his limbs of on the beat of the music.

Clank approached Ratchet as he was dancing, he seemed to be concerned about something "Ratchet why did you gave him that?!..." asked Clank in his monotone voice "I wanted to give him something that he would enjoy and seeing as he never had a pet well… It seemed appropriate! Why should I rather have given him a Courtny Gears record?" at this remark Clank just put his hand onto his metal head waving it. "What?!" asked ratchet confused but Clank did not respond.

The party went on until far into the night, the results were a very drunk Helga who nobody could understand no more, not even Qwark. Who actually was as drunk as Helga was at that time! Skidd was just exhausted from all the dancing and Clank had left early. The only ones remaining were the cleaning bots, Abel and Ratchet who came to check up on Abel and his pet. As he approached he saw that both of them had fallen asleep. "Abel?...Abel?" said Ratchet as he shook Abel back and forth. After a few times it worked and the other Lombax woke up seeing that his pet had fallen asleep after him. "Shhh… It's asleep. You yourself fell asleep as well. Perhaps it's time to go to bed huh?" "I guess that (yawn) your right. Just let me get me Bolt ok?" Ratchet chuckled "You named him Bolt?" "Yea so? It isn't like your name isn't a named after a tool!" Abel said feeling a bit insulted at the name he had given his pet. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Let's go to bed huh?"

Both of them made there way towards there room. Ratchet had already finished brushing his teeth as he went under his sheets. Abel on the other hand laid down his pet in the cage that Skidd had given him, whilst after that making his way to the lavatory to brush his teeth. He could hear ratchet snore who he assumed had now drifted asleep. After he was done brushing his teeth and grooming himself a bit, he went towards ratchet's bed and kissed the Lombax on the cheek "Thanks Ratchet for everything!" Abel said gently as he himself afterwards hit the hay.


	4. Chapter 4: Problems Arise

Dear readers,

I'm happy to announce the third chapter. It took me a while to create this part is it signifies some a more adventurous approach to things from now on.

Enjoy

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**Problems arise**

Day came as night fell. For some it had been a short night, as they had been up very late partying or they had drank to much alcohol. For others it was a normal, as robot, Lombax and everyone else began to wake up.

A large yawn could be heard up to the hallway coming from Ratchet and now Abel and Bolt there room. But the maintenance bot didn't pay any attention to it and went back towards scrubbing the floor as was its duty at 6:30 in the morning. "Man, now that a good night sleep…(yawn)… And I'm still tired!" said Abel trying to figure where he the light switch was. Having finally found it he noticed something was amiss. "Where is Ratchet?" he said while blinking with his eyes and getting the last of the sand out of his eyes. He checked again and he was correct, there was no sign of the other Lombax anywhere in the room. "That is strange, perhaps he got up already? What do you think Bolt… Bolt?" as his vision turned towards the cage he saw that his new pet was still soundly asleep, even snoring as loudly as a normal Lombax would during his sleep. "Aw aint that the cutest thing you've ever seen?" he said to himself. He quickly searched for some clothes but his dismay he didn't find anything to his liking, so he decided to just put on casual white. Once his pants and shirt were on he noticed something in the corner of his eye. It seemed like his little pet had woken up yawning as it stretched itself out wiggling its tail back and forth, trying to keep a balance on it's paws.

"Well hello there little fella, did ya have a good night sleep?" asked Abel with a sweet voice to the mini Lombax in front of him. Abel brought his finger towards the cage trying to pet the small creature but to no avail, it seemed to be frightened as it quickly scurried over to the other side of the cage breathing heavily as the finger went through the bars. "It's ok you know, I won't hurt you. Ah I got it this will help you relax a little!" a sign of curiosity overcame the mini Lombax as Abel ran out of the room leaving it alone.

He ignored anyone he passed, All, Clank, even Ratchet who asked where the fire was. It only took a few minutes for the blue tattooed male to make his way to the mess hall pick up a few things and made his way back towards his room. "Here ya go Bolt… I figured you must have been hungry not having eating anything since last night." As he placed some small pieces of apple, orange and strawberry's in the cage whilst leaving his hand by it. At first Bolt didn't know what to do, he was hungry to say the least but that thing! What did it want from him? He only remembered that a while back he was seeing in big blue eyes of some sort but was to tired to do anything. But then it hit him, the aroma, the fragrance of the food that lay there, it drove the small Lombax almost to insanity… "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." said Abel trying to gain the pet's trust. It took him several minutes but finally the small Lombax approached. It first sniffed at the food looking at it as if it was alive, then going further sniffing on the large hand that stuck inside the cage. He began to sniff at the fingers one by one, making sure he didn't forget one of them before sniffing at the palm. Even going as far as giving it a small lick which send shivers down Abel's spine. "Seems like the small one there is enjoying what I gave him" he said laughing softly as he saw the small creature eat.

"What again?... Clank how do you do that?!" said Ratchet against his metal friend. "Hehehe… Score 3 – 0 for Clank" smiled Clank as he had beaten ratchet once more in the game of chess. The Lombax felt humiliated yet again he never seemed to win against Clank at chess. "Well perhaps we can play another game then chess?... Eh Clank what do you think about four on a row?" "I'm sorry Ratchet but I need to recharge my batteries" defeated and confused ratchet watched as he saw his friend walk away. "Oh well time to inspect the troops and watch the daily routes." He sighed, not that he didn't like what his job was, but doing the same day in day out was getting a bit boring for one. And it had been a long time since anything exciting happened, if we rule out Abel that is! "Captain we got problems! We need you at the bridge A S A P this might be a huge problem!" it sounded through the speakers, it seemed that All had found a problem of some sort. "Must be the cappuccino maker again" Ratchet laughed as he made his way towards the bridge of the Phoenix. "What is the problem All? It sounded urgent (chuckles)… Well?" I think you better sit for this one sir" said one of the robots in front of the large screen. "We just received a transmission." The robot began to type onto the keyboard and after a while the screen began to load as it began to glow Ratchet's eyes began to wider "But that is!... No way killed of those guys' years ago!" he said shocked as a picture of a Robonoid showed on the screen. "They shouldn't pose a threat normally with Doctor Nefarious gone but this time is different." remarked Clank who had just entered the room standing besides Ratchet. "Someone is breaching the secure channel sir." said robot P3X.

"You come for the sunshine, but you'll stay for the view." Said a voice on the monitor, the screen still distorted with static as the figure began to appear more and more. Much to the horror of those aboard the Phoenix.

"This can't be possible I eliminated all of those guys! I was sure of that." Ratchet cried out when the face became visible. It was indeed a Robonoid, a four eyed on at that. It was more shocking to see that one of them survived, for everyone assumed that the "commanders" of Nefarious army had been killed as they were the ones that kept it together and distributed the orders amongst the "less intelligent" Robonoids. It was true that the Bio-Blitorator had made them more intelligent, but well the IQ of a pea compared to that of an apple was not a really big difference! "There supposed to be dead…" said All confused scratching his head. At this the face on screen turned towards All, "If I am dead, do I bleed?!" he marked sarcastically as he cut himself showing a small flow of oil coming out of his hand. "It is a great error in judgement Captain Ratchet to mistake me for a corpse! For mark my words we are alive and we will strike back." Said the four eyed creature with a grim growing on his robotic face. "Doctor Nefarious may be gone, but we are still here and we are STRONG!!" he screamed making part of the bridge shudder by the vibrations, even so that Skidd and Helga covered there ears by the shear pain it caused. "Oh yea?... Try and say that here you oversized tin can." It seemed like Qwark wanted to aggravate it, which the captain quickly made sure he couldn't do. The last thing he wanted was an enemy he did not know fully to be very pissed of. "My brothers shall carry out our master's wishes and none can stop us… All will bow in the glory of Robonoids and we won't…" then all of a sudden the screen turned black the signal it seems had been lost.

"Great once one thinks it's save for "squishy's" again to walk on the streets this guy shows up." Said the Lombax frankly rolling his eyes about, whilst unbeknown to him another Lombax had entered just to see the last of the transmission. "Ratchet who was that on the screen?" asked a dumbstruck Abel. "It's nothing Abel just our daily job here wait what are you doing here anyway? Weren't you playing with Bolt or something?!" well ummm that's what I wanted to ask you… he umm well it's like this, once I was done feeding him I wanted to give him a necklace with a nice B on it one of the robots created it and it had this cute bluish ribbon…" "Abel?" Ratchet looked stiffly at Abel, at which the other Lombax realised he had gotten of track. "Oh yea sorry got carried away… Well he umm he got out" "He WHAT?!" "Didn't you hear me I said " "Yes yes I heard what you said, it's just how did… ah nevermind! Helga, Skidd, Qwark go and find Bolt with Abel. Me and Clank will deal with things here." "Ya tza is gooz!" said Helga eager for running after the small fuz ball. "You got it R man. And don't worry we will find that Abel's pet no problem." "Well it's obvious you people need me, Captain Qwark, to help you out on this dangerous assignment of urgency for our friend Abel." Said the big oaf, trying to make himself look important.

As soon as Abel and the other had left the bridge, Ratchet ordered for a contact towards Metropolis and the Galactic President, Sasha had immediately responded towards the call ratchet had send out, but her dad it seemed was not available for at least another few minutes. This off course came as no surprise as the man in question was the highest ranking person of the Solana galaxy! "Mhhh to what do I owe the pleasure captain?" said the Cazar with a small smile on her lips, something that made Ratchet blush a little though his subordinates were not aware of it. "I got bad news, once your father is here I can explain the situation…" he said as his face grew darker, as Sasha noticed the importance of what Ratchet had to say, she herself adjusted as well. "Aaah Captain Ratchet, my secretary told me that you had to speak to me right away." said the President. "That is correct sir, I bare grave news! As of 14:05 we were breached in our security." "I don't see why that is a concern to contact me and my daughter ratchet." The President reacted a little to personal, which only resulted in Sasha covering her face in shame. "Well sir it is not that we were breached, but rather who. It was a Robonoid!" that last word made the president tense up, the mere taught of the destruction those things created during the War were still carved in the people's minds and with elections coming up he really could miss yet another war. After Ratchet had both the President and his daughters attention he explained there situation.

Meanwhile in the mess hall. "Helga you go left I'll go from the right. We need to capture him…" said Abel growling as he tried to capture Bolt. Who it seemed had found his way towards the kitchen stuffing his face full of all those yummy fruits and what not. "I knew I should have teached him manners first!" cursed the Lombax. "Lezz whining more running!" shouted Helga. The small Lombax didn't like the fact that two huge beings came towards it and quickly jumped away as soon as Helga jumped towards, crashing ontop of the table making it collapse. "I haz had it with thiz!!!" as she ran again at the little creature. Abel on the tough had gotten a marvellous good idea to capture his pet. "Yo Helga, seems like Abel is quitting." "Ha what did I tellz you? He'z a panzy!"

But as fast as Abel had left, he was back again holding the cage into his hands. He put it down besides him and grabbed some food. "Helga Skidd, I can handle it from here. Go ahead and meet up with ratchet okido?" he said smiling at both the robot and the skateboarder. The small creature was rather confused at this, the other ones left but the one he sort of "knew" stayed behind with food on his hand. It sniffed the air before slowly but surely making it's way to Abel, it grabbed the food but stayed near the hand. "Aw, your just the cutest thing I've ever had as a pet." He said narrowing his eyes along with a huge smile it didn't take long however before Abel's pet began to yawn indicating it was sleepy. "Well come here little one, I'll then give you a nice warm place to sleep in." hesitant at first the small Lombax jumped onto the hand of Abel and was put back into its cage. "You surely are one that will need manners… But we got time." As he placed the cage in his room Abel stick out his tongue whilst rubbing the small cheek of the pet. As he noticed the small pet curling up near a bit of hay he quietly sang a small song he learned in his youth.

"Lombax aciva da ino vas

Tu baddees nio pwie neva truve

Una dorm pwie ove mer tu

Su dorm una an tur dreom tu ma save

Meta dinke vo merr obja da prove

Meta dorm dorm terwa tu aciva da ino vas"

(translated to English)

"Lombax listen to my song,

Your nightmares they will never stay

And sleep will take over you,

So sleep and in your dreams you can play

Now think of happy things to come

Now sleep sleep while you listen to my song"

It seemed to have effect, because Abel haddn't sang the last word or a lloud snoring came from the cage next to him. It was funny that such a small creature could snore so loud he taught to himself as he got up and walked towards the doorway.

"…hope we can all agree that this threat needs to be handled before it can grow any more dangerous towards any planet." Said Ratchet after having briefed the President and Sasha who both wished they hadn't heard what they had. The fact that Sasha was involved into the matter was because as Mayor of metropolis she was in charge of the largest city of the Solana galaxy whilst her dad hold all he power it was still of importance that she knew all the facts. The president on the other hand needed to know the details as he should inform the rest of the military of what was about to happen.

"I'll see what I can do Ratchet, oh and send my regards to agent Clank will you? I'm sure he will be a great asset against the evil forces once again." Said the Cazar before signing out leaving only Ratchet and Sasha to discus the rest of the plans. "He still thinks Secret Agent Clank exists?" asked Ratchet whilst shaking his head. "You know dad, how many times you tell him that Clank is just a figure, he just keeps ignoring you… But Ratchet be careful ok?" "Hehe, last time you said that I was abducted towards Dreadzone remember?" he said blinking an eye towards the female infront of him making it blush. "How could I forgot hotshot… All that armour looked good on you. Even your with all that armour you still had a cute butt." She said smirking, but unbeknownst to both of them Abel just entered the bridge wanting to see what ratchet was busy and what all the fuzz was about on the ship. "Oh ratchet, you did not tell me you had another Lombax onboard your ship!" "Well…ummm… actually this is the stranded crewmember I told you about." He said while Sasha was inspecting the in loosely dressed Lombax. "I'm glad to meet you ummm…" "The name is Abel" "Please to meet you Abel, my name is Sasha." Sasha said towards the new Lombax. "I do hope Ratchet is not making it hard on you?" she said "On the contrary Sasha, it is HE who is making ME suffer." Ratchet said before quickly grabbing Abel beneath his shoulder "Isn't that right buddy?" "Well it's time for me to go see you around Abel… Hotshot" she said blinking an eye towards Ratchet and with a face that gave away her lust towards the Lombax, this didn't came to well with Abel tough who seemed to have been a little annoyed at what he had just seen evolve in front of him.

After Ratchet informed Abel about there situation and a few soda drinks later, it became clear that something was bothering the blue eyed Lombax. Ratchet noticed it and wanted to know what was on his friends heart "So what's the problem?" "Oh nothing just thinking about wht you said. I just hope that this won't escalate tough." "We all do Abel…we all do!" but the truth was that Abel just didn't like that Sasha creature to much. Ok she was pretty and all, and Ratchet was fond of her but he wouldn't want his friendship be lost because of it! "Ratchet may I ask something of you?" "Sure bud, what do you want?" "I want to help you on your missions!" this shocked Ratchet a bit almost to the extend of jumping into the air! "Well… Let me sleep a night on it ok? Because if I allow you we need to train in several things. And note that I can't always be there to help you out." "That's no problem Ratchet" said Abel smiling at him "I can take care of myself better then you know." "I'm sure you can Abel." But ratchet would admit to Abel that he was also frightened at the idea of his friend being in combat. Not for his own sake, but if it was true what he had seen during there sparring match then Abel could be a potential danger towards anyone. "At the very least I can observe you some more" he said in himself.


	5. Chapter 5: Declaration of trouble

Well here it is chapter 5 , I do hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did in typing it. Also if you wish to leave comments about characters, situations or just about anything don't be afraid. It helps me in making this small story evolve better!

**Declaration of trouble**

Ratchet sighed as he was staring at his dinner. He didn't feel like eating, his mind twirling around as he remembered all that had happened that very day. It felt to him like the universe lay on his shoulders at the very thought of having to fight another war! Sure they had beaten the crap out of Nefarious men before but this time, this time it was different. He glanced over his crewmembers each of them laughing and talking as if there was no problem whatsoever. And then there was the matter of Abel wanting to help Ratchet, ok he admired the other Lombax but helping on missions would be far too dangerous! Normally it was only he that did missions and sometimes the Rangers helped (if they weren't hiding somewhere scared), but having someone else go into the same danger as himself? It terrified him to know what could happen to the poor Lombax and Ratchet would never allow someone to hurt Abel let alone that he could never forgive himself if any of the Q-force would get hurt! Looking back at his food he finally decided to take a small bite, after all one needs to have a full stomach!

A few tables further Qwark (as usual) was busy exaggerating one of his stories whilst Helga adored to there mere sight of the man talking gibberish. Skidd was busy with one of his charms on one of the nurses of the ship employing the "I'm cool" charm which to everyone's surprise almost always had effect on the ladies bots.

Not far from both those tables sat Abel, his blue eyes fixed on his pet, Bolt, watching as the mini Lombax grasped one of his carrots and began to eat at it vigorously. "He may look like Ratchet in mini, but that sure didn't affect his appetite!" laughed Abel with glee as Bolt stared at him confused with big green eyes. To everyone's surprise tough Bolt learned a lot in a very short time, something which reminded them more of Abel in a sense as Abel was very intelligent not to speak of how he behaved, seemingly (always) knowing what to do. Be it to fix a certain damaged circuitry or just helping solve a riddle Clank provided to tease ratchet with… "So Bolt, do you like it?" tickling the pet's golden fur as he watched the clock hanging over the kitchen. "18:35 mhhh the news is going to start!" he said in joy as he shouted at ratchet to come over to there chamber in a few minutes which caught the attention of all and especially made Ratchet blush. "What do you say Bolt. Ready to watch the 7 o clock news?" at which his pet gave a small nod as approval. After his small escape this afternoon Bolt had seemingly became quieter. Perhaps he was trying to mimic both Lombaxes behaviour? Whatever the case may have been Bolt was a little more relaxed much to everyone's (especially Ratchet's) joy.

"Abel?... You didn't need to shout through the entire mess hall you know! You could have just asked when you passed me by." said Ratchet giving Abel a small smile as they made there way towards there chamber. As soon as the door had barely opened Abel already jumped on the couch taken the remote and setting the tv to Channel-64. As both Lombaxes noticed the news hadn't started yet

"… now return to Secret Agent Clank episode 217." Said the narrator "Last time our hero Clank had been caught by the evil and notorious super villain Maxmillion, will Secret agent Clank be able to survive and escape from Maktar Estate? Find out now!!" "So agent Clank, how does it feel to be at the loosing ends for once?" said Maxmillion gloating over at his prisoner who was hanging over a pit of liquid nitrogen. "This time you won't be able to escape at all, I have all your gadgets with me and your partner is not here to help you out… hahahaaa" "Well Maxmillian, you should know better then anyone to not…" Clank said as Skrunch appeared on screen attacking the few guards Maxmillian had placed. "…monkey around. Hehehe!" said Clank as yet another guard fell down by a well placed kick by Skrunch. But as soon Clank was free they had been targeted by Maxmillian his rifle, ready to shoot both Clank and his sidekick if they even dared to move. "You loose this time permanently! Agent Clank!!!" Maxmillian said as he fired at Clank, the bullet racing towards him at lightning speed, but all of a sudden the screen went white before turning normal seeing a heavy wounded Skrunch that had jumped in front of Clank taking the hit with him. "Well that takes care of him…Heheheee…WHAT?!" as Clank used fusion bomb pushing Maxmillian into the liquid nitrogen pit. "Well it seems he's very cool now. Heheheee" giggled Clank as he quickly made his way towards Skrunch "Hold on Skrunch I will find a way to help" "Will Secret agent Clank be able to help Skrunch? Find out next time on Secret agent Clank!!!"

Abel had formed tears in his eyes as the screen went of to commercials "Ooh poor Skrunch I hope he's alright we need to go save him!!" screamed Abel, he yelled so loud some of the bots even taught they heard something but ignored it. "He's hurt we need to help him Ratchet." "Abel ABEL!!! Calm down… It's not real!" said Ratchet trying to calm him down, as he noticed that Bolt began to get afraid from what Abel was doing." For Bolt's sake your scaring him!... Look Secret agent Clank is not real, it's just a holo-vid show. Skrunch is fine you saw him just a few minutes ago remember?" as soon as it had sunk into Abel's ears he instantly became jolly again. "So what will we do now? Watch the news? Play a Qwark vid comic?" Ratchet just sighed as he put his hand in front of his face not believing how oblivious Abel was just now. "Ok ok, let's watch the news then if your sooo eager to watch something." Said Ratchet taking the remote setting the volume a bit louder, as he still didn't like the show Clank starred in.

"Welcome to the Channel-64, 19:00 news, with your hosts Dallas and Juanita."

"Welcome to Channel-64, isn't that right Juanita?" said Dallas towards his colleague "It sure is Dallas… Our top stories tonight, children trauma's after Gleeman Vox Dreadzone, Is there life on Aquatos, but first we go live towards Metropolis where the Galactic President is making an announcement." Said Juanita as the screen split showing the President at Metropolis being photographed as he made his way towards the stage. As he grabbed his papers on of the stand the chattering calmed down when the President started to speak "My fellow Solaniëns, at 17:05 a day that will live in infamy the Robonoids have attacked Blackwater city, we received a message from Nédal-Nib Amäso. Negotiations have not worked with these robots and therefore the Galactic Navy will be used to find and destroy this menace of Doctor Nefarious men. Even now that the doctor is gone, this renegade squad keeps resisting and will therefore be punished." Said the president towards the crowd, who now were anxious for answers. "Yes Darla" "Darla Gratch Channel-64 news, is it correct that there have been taken no peaceful solutions towards resolving this?" asked the bot knowing that the president would need to have a miracle to find his way out of this one. "Negotiations had started to find a peaceful solution towards the problem, but as I ave stated they had ignored the spokesmen we send towards which only resulted in the brutal attack on Blackwater city… No more questions" said the president as he went off screen whilst dozens of reporters still asked if he would answer at least one more question. "Ugh, you just hate to see such senseless violence, ain't that right Juanita?" Dallas said as he put his feet on the desk, which Juanita quickly cancelled by slapping him on the head whilst giving an evil grin towards Dallas "It's appalling Dallas… In other news, local crime lord…" "Can you believe that shit?!" cried Ratchet as he was stunned to hear about Blackwater city. "Yea poor Dallas all he wanted was to stretch his feet!" said Abel like that would have been the end of the world. "Not that you oaf!" a low growl came from Abel at that as well as from Bolt! "Sorry Bolt didn't mean to say that…heheh" ratchet chuckled as he told the actual reason "The fact we are at war!... That guy on screen already told us they would strike when we least expected it. Seems like they already beat us to it." Ratchet sighed at the thought of seeing all those people flee for there lives, it was the War all over again as a small tear formed in his face, all the destruction and chaos it had caused, all of the suffering that everyone needed to endure. It could not, no it WOULD not happen again not this time he would make sure of that! "Abel I decided, you can join us I will need as many people as I can get for taking this Nédal-Nib Amäso and his men down!" said he as he contemplated if this was the correct decision, but what he was 100% sure about was that whatever action he took this may never turn into a full scale war! "You mean it?" said Abel overflowing with joy and happiness, as what to ratchet just told him it even got Bolt all enthusiastic about it, tough the little Lombax didn't fully know and understand what was going on. "Meet me tomorrow at the hangar 06:00 sharp! I need to make some preparations and talk t the president. It seems we will be going to war… But first this, if you are going to be under my command you'll be following my orders! So no fancy stuff got it?!" "Sure ratchet no problem. You can count on it that I'm there tomorrow." Said Abel still happy as his tail went from side to side and his standing more upwards then they had ever been as long as he could remember.

As Ratchet entered the bridge the entire crew stood up proud ready to go "You have all seen the news and you know what has happened. As of now we go to Code Red!" "Yes sir! Will do so, engaging the code… Notifying the crew as well." Said Y60 as several lights began to blink on the monitor. "Run a full diagnostic on the entire ship. I want this bird to be able to fight within the week!... Heck check everything, I want anything double checked before we launch… Z45 calibrate the weapons system, F77 arm the fighters." Several ayah's and sir's came from the respective crewmembers as they had received there orders. "And gather the entire crew for a briefing in 20 minutes. They need to know what we are up against once I have spoken to the president."

One phone call and several orders later at the hall of the Phoenix, Ratchet began to address the entire crew which now included Abel in full uniform as the newest full time crewmember. The entire crew consisted of several Battalions, each battalion was divided in nine Divisions and each Division had several Squads. The Phoenix had undergone several large changes since the War against Nefarious especially her size, as it was not a normal cruiser but a full mother ship at that. Enough room for around ten Battalions which each could be up to around 500 persons. This made the Phoenix the true pride of the Navy in both name and reality.

As Ratchet stood before them on the upper level, he had to brush his face as the size of the crowd was a bit intimidating. Several Battalions each with there own drop ship and crew... Many of them were from the original crew he had known back in the last war, but when they reformed the Phoenix more men had been put on the ship and now with a new war at the door several other Battalions had been assigned to the Phoenix taking over the decks 6A to 9D who had been empty up until now. And all of them were eager to serve under the war hero "Ratchet". It felt wonderful to the Lombax to be addressing this many people even under these circumstances. "You all know me, either as captain or as a friend. I am a Lombax of few words so I'll keep this short, as of 20:09 the President has declared the war on what is now known as the Galactic Independent Robot Liberation army or GIRL." This made several of men chuckle but where quickly silenced as Ratchet gave the men a very impressive look he continued, "Each of you were issued a mission pack, and I trust that none of you opened the sealed section yet. "He looked up as there was a slap of a closed book from the rear, where evidently a Ranger and an organic friend had been peeking. He told them a bit sarcastically, "You may now open that section." several opened mission briefings later "As you can see from this, we will be patrolling the borders and inner core of Solana. If it should become clear that our new enemy has the potential to harm any of these planets we are allowed to use deadly force." said Ratchet not noticing that the crew actually didn't began to like how this was forming. But they sadly knew they had no choice but to follow there orders. "That is all your all dismissed." He said which resulted in several whoops and yea's from the men as they made there way towards there quarters or other places of interests. Ratchet stood there with his hands clasped before him, watching as the officers went to their teams to talk things over. Curiously, it looked like Doctor Bertan's group was playing rock, paper, scissors.

"It could be fun!" said Nurse Bucher. "It could be a disaster…" muttered Doctor Bertan. "It could be a wild goose chase." remarked Y40. "Bah, he won again!" grumbled the Nurse. Looking at Y40's hand, the Doctor exclaimed, "Vwait a minuet... yer a robot! Zat's not fair!" The bot gave Helsing a dim look. "Wait you are a doctor, you're just _now_ noticing this?"

Ratchet sighed when the entire ordeal was over. He was never good at speaking against crowds, but he was happy that it was over none the less. "I envy those that didn't have to prepare a speech like this." He said as the Lombax made his way towards his quarters, receiving various "Sir's" and "Captain" towards him. He was happy tough that his crew at least followed orders, that meant that should there happen anything that they will be ready. A small smile formed on his lips as he began to contemplate everything he could do being the captain of the Phoenix. It was true he had superiors like the President and the Chief staffs of the Navy, but on this ship he was the boss and what he said was what would happen even if it was a fire drill at 3 am in the morning. One of the security bots called SE1 came running towards the poor fella at top speed almost hitting him as he stopped. "Sir, I have checked several compartments" "Yes and? Can't this wait until morning? I'm rather tired you know" he growled towards the bot even going as far as showing a big yawn infrontf of everyone in the hall whilst the bot, who besides powering up every now and then, had no idea what the captain was talking about. "I understand sir, I'll have it on your desk tomorrow at 7 am, sir!" said the bot before running of again. "I swear those robots sometimes are a pain in the… Gah ABEL!!!!" he scowled out as the other Lombax greeted him by jumping from behind. "So ready for bed Ratchet?" asked Abel who according to Ratchet had still way to much energy as they went into there chamber. "Well just keep that energy for tomorrow you'll need it trust me!" he said yawning yet again.

Ratchet knew that this would be a very long year indeed, only a few years back there was the war with Nefarious, but now it seemed there was another mad person trying to complete what he had started. The only thing he really hoped was that this war wouldn't turn out for the worst… As he looked at Abel who was barely asleep with Bolt next to him, he wished for this war to end quickly and spare his friends and anyone he knew from the horrors he had seen over his life. After that he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6: Flying without a care

To all,

Chapter 6 is finally up, it has a bit more action then the other chapters as I am trying to work towards the good stuff so bare with me. If you have any suggestion or requests fire away… It would really help evolve the story if in your reviews, you can add what you would like to see, or improvements all along other subjects.

--

**Flying without a care**

"05:59"

Ratchet ticked his watch to make sure it was not defect, the ticking continued steady as the seconds counted away towards 6 o clock. The Lombax was in his famous battle suite, the black suite with blue strips running along the limbs, alongside his helmet made Ratchet look a bit larger then he normally was without the extra armour, but it wasn't like this was going to be a pleasant ride, oh no! "06:00, where is Abel? I said to him that I wanted to see hi…GAH!" "PRESENT" he heard being yelled at him from behind, quickly scratching his ears in the process Ratchet quickly turned around to see Abel in a similar suit. He actually looked quite good in blue! Shame he only wore white the rest of the time. "You should really know how to approach people you know!" he said panting as his hart raced inside his chest and his lungs trying to breath properly after the "surprise" he just received from his fellow Lombax.

"So why you asked me to come here Ratchet? Or we going into one of those?" he said pointing towards one of the ships. "Or what did you wanna do anyway? I mean I can't know what you know, because you already know the things that I do need to know before knowing fully what…" Ratchet just pointed his finger to Abel indicting he should calm down a bit. How that guy kept so energetic God only knew Ratchet thought, as he went towards the gate, "Well then Abel" he said finally having been able to catch his breath somewhat. "Today I'll teach you how to fly, I know that this is normally done by an instructor, but I wanted to personally train you today." "Oh boy you mean it Ratchet?!!" he said in joy as he leapt towards ratchet hugging him tightly.

As Abel sat down in front of Ratchet the green eyed Lombax began telling about the F-304 interceptor, listening to every word the Lombax told him making sure he took notes. "So remember that the inertial dampeners are NOT yet fully 100% effective so it could get a bit bumpy along the ride once you pass past a few G. Any questions?" Ratchet asked hoping that Abel would ask some so that he at least have the feeling he paid attention. But what Abel said shocked him so hard he had to sit down. "Yea when do I get to fly?... Ummm ratchet are you ok there?" as ratchet looked very white even viewable trough the fur. "Wait you mean you actually know how to fly the plane?" Ratchet asked with a glimmer of curiosity, what surprised him the most was that Abel actually seemed to tell the truth. And Abel did tell the truth as he told him he had already learned to fly star ships as soon as he was able to walk from his Master. But as soon as Ratchet dared to ask for the name Abel shut completely down, not saying a word.

"Well then… Let's see what you know then" Ratchet winked as he went towards one of the P-304's signalling the maintenance bots to help prepare the crafts. As several bots made there way towards both Abel and Ratchet, taking with them equipment going from ammunition towards the washing sop for the windows. "This is Captain Ratchet calling radio tower…over!" "This is radio tower…over!" as ratchet began to tell that both he and Abel would go for a small test drive, the last of the equipment was brought onboard the two ships. Ratchet's ship was the first to be ready as he made his way towards the landings tripe.

"Captain Ratchet, you are ready to go…over!" it sounded in both cockpits as ratchet quickly turned on one of Courtney Gears albums. Even if she had tried to kill him in the past, her music was still rather good there was no arguing about that he taught ash eh put down his helmet over his face giving him various readings of the ship and his surrounding as well as details over Abel's ship.

As soon as both ships were in the right position Ratchet clicked on the ignition switch, a load thundering sound came forth from the engines as they charged up, preparing themselves for the initial thrust forward into the depths of space. Ratchet gave signal to the tower to open the front gate, but not letting the shield down so that decompression couldn't take place within the hangar, last thing he wanted was a dozen fighters drifting off, or being hit by space debris!

The sound became deafening even inside the cockpits as the engines had almost reached the right amount of energy for blastoff. Ratchet held his fingers ready for the initial boost, making sure his body was limp enough not have any disturbance of the pressure that would sound fall away. Checking the last of the life indicators, that they were alright and within boundaries. Whilst at the same time viewing at Abel's indicators. As the sound became unbearable to say the least both pilots pressed the switch forward lunging there craft into space, Ratchet having a small head start over Abel. Both crafts went with a speed that soon the phoenix only seemed like a spot on the dark sky surrounding there vessels, the cold that was everywhere as well as the silence that could drive any man to insanity after a while. "Yo Ratchet, I told you I could fly…" shouted Abel into the mike smiling as he said that blissful word "flying" Abel loved it, it made him feel free of everything. "There is a difference within flying and _flying_" ratchet exclaimed with a grin on his face as he drove more speed towards the engines blasting of further into space… As he quickly jolted a 360° around his sides he added in a small loop to finish of the deal. "Now that my friend is what they call flying." Thinking that Abel only mastered the basics. Tough Ratchet was impressed that his friend had skill of that art! Only a few of the rangers could fly but none of them ever surpassed Ratchet, either backing down out of fear or because there sensors couldn't calculate such dangerous moves. "You haven't seen anything, Ratchet" said Abel barely hear able for Ratchet's own cockpit as now Abel jumped forward doing the same stunt ratchet had done in the deep emptiness of space. Enjoying the beauty of the mists that hang around them. Whilst at that time watching as the lights of the sun shined upon an ice rind around a small moon located just a few kilocubits away from them. "So you learned some tricks eh Abel?" ratchet said over the mike as the only thing Abel said was a small pfff "That was Childs play, THIS, is how it's done!" he said frankly taking ratchet by surprise as he brought his ship into a nose dive before quickly ascending again, turning the ship several times around it's ash. Abel was having the time of his life, flying in space once again after all that time, being here with what he regarded as his best friend. It was just heavenly for him!

"Not to bad fuzz ball!... Tell you what, let's race to settle this little argument shall we?" grinning as he knew exactly how to beat Abel at his own game. But it would take some skill of Ratchet to beat Abel, he knew that but he also knew that he was skilled at a higher level then Abel was. And a few fancy tricks in an open space wouldn't show anyone's skill. The real skill was evading other fighters in a fight! A dogfight that's what it's all about in war. And Ratchet needed to see if Abel would be able for that!

"First one to get passed that ice field over there wins the race… On your marks… Get set…GO!" Ratchet cried out as both ships launched at tremendous speed towards the field of ice, the sun making it blinding to look at, but that made it all the harder for both pilots. As they had reached the outer ring of the moon. Small shards of ice bounced of the shield with lightning speed as both ships went through the field… Ratchet using the skills he had learned over his years as a commando came in handy as he avoided some of the smaller shards, but Abel he was more for a direct approach making sure he went in a straight line. Every now and then ratchet would be ahead of Abel, but at moments it was Abel that took the lead of both of them.

The small shards didn't have much effect, it was until they reached the larger blocks of ice that came hurling towards them at great speed that both of them needed to manoeuvre. "Damm that's close! Diverting power from weaponry towards the shield and engine!" Ratchet said for the black box to note. As his ships altered the power usage, giving him a boost of speed which came a bit hard for the stomach making him almost throw up at the new speed. This is crazy he taught but he could not allow Abel get this victory. Not what had happened during there sparring match a few days ago. "I WON'T loose!" he cried out giving even a higher velocity towards the engines.

Abel was evading the incoming rocks with ease as if he could predict where they came from. Tough ratchet began to gain up with the extra speed even flying like Abel straight trough to the core of field. It wasn't until the rocks became to large for them to evade that they started blazing trough the field, activating some of there weaponry to make passageways if needed. "Yea man this reminds me of the old days!!! WOOHOO!!!" shouted Abel as he noticed Ratchet was firing his rail gun towards certain rocks in front of them… This came as a surprise to Abel as he hadn't counted on ratchet blowing up the rock to get a free passage, and making his own path more dangerous. "So are we going to play it like that, eh Ratchet?" Abel smiled as he gave extra power towards the drive system feeding it with much needed fuel for the extra burst of speed.

Ratchet watched as on the radar to see if Abel was still behind him, but to his surprise he couldn't find his signal anywhere. The blocks of ice making sure that his signal could not be spotted. The ice shards becoming thicker and harder to blast trough as all of a sudden out of thin air a huge block of ice was shattered from the opposite direction. Could it be Abel? No he wouldn't!!! To Ratchet shock as he the ship of his friend flying towards him at super-Lombax speed. His ship turning 180° facing his cockpit downwards as his ship flew by ratchet's own, As seconds became minutes he could see inside Abel's cockpit seeing the Lombax wave at him, as the ship plunged towards the darkness before coming back in a U turn flying past him, letting him believe he had begun a match against a God of some sort. "That's impossible! No way he can survive that much pressure!!!" ratchet said as they reached the third obstacle of there race, the moon itself. It took the limits of both ships not to crash onto the moon's surface as gravity began to pull them down from space. Both ships barely scratching one of the craters formed by impacts of the shards of ice floating around it. Abel took off with a noselength as he quickly bypassed several craters, each one in it's own unique shape and size, whilst not forgetting the plummeting rocks that came crashing down towards the moon every so often. Ratchet had a hard time to keep up with Abel, not only by speed but also by guts! It didn't bother Abel he had almost killed both of them in that stunt of his, nor to fly straight trough an ice field like they had done just a few minutes ago… but he wouldn't give up just yet! As the final lap towards the Phoenix would begin and there he would be in the advantage!! However by not paying attention to his HUD ratchet had barely missed an obstacle, one of his wings damaged and loosing fuel he needed to make sure he got to the Phoenix in time. Else he would be dead!

Ratchet gave an enormous boost (which he thought would destroy his ship if he wasn't carefully enough!) to get loose from the gravitational field. Abel who hadn't asked as much from his ship on speed yet was quickly away from the field with ratchet hot in his pursuit. As both ships entered the final kilocubits ratchet gave everything he had, every muscle tensed as his body was pushed yet further and further into the chair behind him, his muscles beginning to ache from the sheer pressure that build on his body. His fur aching as it began to push itself into his flesh. But he would not loose not this time, not this time!!

"Ratchet watch out you might kill yourself!" Abel said viewing ratchet's monitors, but as soon as he saw that the bold Captain wouldn't give up, he himself began to give everything he had… It was a neck on neck race, the victor would and could only be decided by he who would pull of at the last minute to land safely into the hangar. As the Phoenix came closer and closer towards them, as that small dot began to form into the ship that was the Phoenix both Lombaxes had seen there destination. The hangar from which they had started and where it would all end. Several screams and roars could be heard from the cockpits as neither one would give up on this fight. Ratchet nor Abel. The last few yards had been the most thrilling for both of them. As each of them at the last microcubit pulled back the pedal almost flying trough the window as the ships decelerated. A draw! Both of them landed at the same time in the hangar. Ratchet could not believe this but so did Abel!

As the Lombax climbed out of the cockpit he fell down on his back with a hard thud, same for Abel. Both had been exhausted and were at the end of there strength. "Hehe, did I win??" laughed Ratchet before everything went black.

A sound was recognisable for Ratchet, his eyes felt heavy as he tried to open them, a small beeping sound could be heard in the distance as it grew louder and louder with each passing second. His vision was blurred by shady images as he tried to remember what had happened… he tried to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth, the only thing he could feel were his muscles as they ached from pain. He tried to turn his head but to no avail, he was strapped into something. His sight bettering more and more and he began to see shapes, shapes he recognised as the inside of the Phoenix infirmary. "Hoo…oow…did I get here?" he said very softly, even his tongue hurt when he tried to speak. The robot doctor who had been watching over ratchet noticed this and quickly informed others as they began to make notes of various things. Things which could be stolen for all ratchet cared! He wanted to know what happened and more important at that time what happened with Abel!

But his questions had been answered before he even asked them as a cheerful Lombax entered his sight hugging him hard. "Muscles….pain!....ABEL!" he was able to scream that last word which caught the blue eyed Lombax attention. "Hey buddie you're finally awake! It was some race huh?!" said Abel as he put Bolt next to ratchet, as the small Lombax began sniffing at the various things ratchet was hooked on he wanted to know what happened. "well you passed out! Your body couldn't hold it no more. Several broken ribs and well exhaustion is the result bud." Said Abel towards Ratchet, who now began to remember. Abel hadn't strained his body as much as Ratchet had done that's why he wasn't in the infirmary and he was.

But before Abel was able to leave the room ratchet asked who had won… "It was a tie ratchet" said the blue eyed Lombax as he went outside.

As the doctor came outside Abel confronted him. "Yo doc everything gonna be fine for him?" "He will be fine after some nanotech treatments and some good rest. But what were you thinking both of you! Flying over 9 G's is deadly even for you people… And I don't need to remind you that taking ratchet above his limits is no excuse!" Abel growled lowly at the doctor, reminding that it was HE that should not tell Abel what and what not to do. "You just focus on getting him better. That's all I ask for!" Abel sad as his voice became overwhelmed with fear and sorrow. Even if it was not his fault he felt guilty at having pushed ratchet so towards his limits. Indeed it had been fun but this was not what he wanted. The members of the Q-force as well as other people of the crew had come to see how the "captain" was doing. They heard what had happened and especially Clank wanted to be with Ratchet as the small robot felt compelled to be at his side at a time like this.

Flying without a care for Abel came at a high cost indeed as a tear formed in his eye falling on his fur.


	7. Chapter 7: Nanotech and Lombaxsitting

Hopefully by beginning next week I can have chapters 8 and 9 out as those ones will like this revolve around the relations, perhaps even some extra things. Depends if I find the time!

Sorry if this chapter is a bit long, but I found it important to create a better friendship between both Ratchet and Abel, whilst keeping the story realistic! Comments are always welcome.

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**Nanotech and Lombax-sitting**

As Ratchet opened his eyes, he noticed that he had drifted into sleep a while back. Trying move his arms a jolt of pain surged trough his spine telling him to just lay still and rest, not that he could move much as he was a little restrained to make sure the Lombax wouldn't make any sudden moves.

As he started to breathe a little more relaxed he felt a strange tingle in his chest, he couldn't pinpoint what it was but it sure felt like shit to him. The doctor on watch noticed that the patient had awoken.

As doctor Helsing checked some of the vital signs he made his way towards ratchet's bed grasping his clipboard and ticking some things on it, Ratchet alas could not view what the doctor was writing down, nor if it was good as the face was covered by the large board itself. "You know…" the doctor started speaking "… next time you take such a joyride, make sure that you think of your body first instead of winning. You Lombaxes might be strong, but you are also very stubborn. It was actually that stubbornness that made sure you survived until you had finally reached the bloody hangar… Pfff pilots crazy I tell you!" he said turning away from the captain still keeping his clipboard near him. Ratchet finally got the courage to ask what had happened to him, as he had heard something but it was to far off at the time to fully understand what had been said. "So doc, is it bad?" the doctor's eye opened a bit as his eyebrow went up "Well besides several broken ribs, some cuts and bruises your actually alright. We have already given you a small portion of nanotech. But the most important thing is that you rest some more. In around an hour we will give another nanotech treatment!"

Ratchet whimpered as the doctor left, leaving him all alone in that room. Oh how he wished he wasn't as stubborn sometimes but heck that's what you get for being overconfident and not wanting to loose no matter what. "Seems like I paid the price for it" he chuckled before quickly trying to grasp for his stomach as pain yet again surged trough his body. A small knocking on the door informed him someone was there, it seemed that Abel and Clank came to visit the poor chap. "Oh ratchet, you should be more careful next time!" said Clank in a worried voice, jumping up a small chair to get closer to his friend. Abel on the other hand had brought Bolt with him as he placed the small Lombax next to ratchet's bed and gave it something to nibble on. "Well Abel, seems like you are more skilled then I am hehe..;Ouch!" he yelled as Bolt jumped on ratchet chest at which he not only got a very stern look from both Clank and Abel but also that Abel took away his small treat much to Bolt's dismay who frankly began to shout small words "MINE!!! Back!!!NOW!!!!" he shouted, which actually made Ratchet giggle seeing as the small version of him wanted to eat badly. Tough seeing Bolt like that made his own stomach growl as it had not gotten anything since the race. "Say ummm do you perhaps have something to eat? I'm starving…" "The doctor said it that's why we are here, Ratchet. Tough I can't "feed" you Abel is much more then capable of giving you both your nanotech as well as your lunch." This surprised ratchet a bit, Abel giving him the stuff? Normally that was the work of the doctor, he wondered why the doctor would have ever agreed to such a demand, but oh well he wasn't complaining he just wanted to eat something even if he got all his medication and food inserted into his body via several tubes.

"Firstly…" said Abel as he brought his hand behind Ratchet's back making sure not to touch any bruises "… let's set you upright so you at least can eat a bit. I do hope you don't mind hospital food? As the doctor clearly said nothing else then that for the next several days!" the green eyed Lombax couldn't figure out if he was to enjoy this or hate it. Hospital food was never something he liked, but he had such an appetite right now that he did not care what they gave as long as it was food. "Abel set the dish over ratchet so that he could easily grasp it, but to both Lombaxes surprise ratchet could not move his limbs at all, perhaps because they were still sedated to much to make sure he wouldn't feel to much pain from the cuts and bruises. And well who would to experience the pain of several broken ribs eh? "Mhhh this is going to be a problem, oh my!" Clank said as he noticed his friend couldn't move his arms. And well unlike with robots this could not be fixed within an hour or so be detaching the limb. Another problem he found very annoying for organics! Can't take of there limbs to heal faster! "I think Abel will be needed for this, Ratchet. Unless you wish to wait for another hour for the doctor?!" Clank giggled as he was enjoying this to much. "Clank once I'm out of this bed your toast!... Wait cancel that a toaster much better. This isn't funny you know. It's shameful enough already to not be able to do my duties, don't rub it in." he growled a little as Abel just watched with big puppy eyes at the captain in front of him. What Clank had said had some truth in it, either he would be fed by Abel, or he had to wait for the doctor. And how much Ratchet would not want it Abel himself would feel honoured in away. Besides this way he thought he at least could be close to his friend for a while even if it was in an awkward situation like this one.

"So what's it gonna be Ratchyboy?" he said almost laughing at what he called ratchet, knowing very well the Lombax was incapable do retaliating not only because he could miss out his food, but well because he couldn't do anything! His limbs were still sore and sedated to a point were he could only move them by a few inch… A small growl came from his throat as he didn't like how he was treated, but he had to admit it was a little bit his own fault. "Well just make this quick, I don't like it for one bit you know…" Ratchet said scolding a little before finally letting Abel pick of the spoon. "I know this is something you hate, but you can't sustain yourself no more." He said bringing the spoon full of food towards ratchet's mouth, the sent of food filling his nostrils with delight as it came closer and closer, his mouth beginning to form saliva at the mere thought of being able to eat. "Aaah this tastes good" he said once he had swallowed the first bit. Tough it did hurt a bit when it passed to his stomach he enjoyed the flavour to the utmost of his abilities… As Abel kept giving Ratchet more food, Clank watched as both Lombaxes seemed to enjoy it, Ratchet because he was eating, well mostly cause his hunger was fading away! And Abel because he felt less guilty, tough that didn't seem to be the only thing Abel liked…"Heheheheeee" giggled Clank as a high school girl as he enjoyed what he saw. "What's that you said Clank?" asked Ratchet with his mouth half full seemingly regaining some of his strength as he ate.

Bolt began to get frustrated at not gaining any attention from Abel. First his nibble was taken away then he got no more attention while this bigger version of him was even being fed. The small pet sank to the top of the table as is began to cry, and cry it did as Abel and both Ratchet tried to cover there ears at high pitched tone Bolt emitted. "What's the matter Bolt?" asked Abel curiously at the pet. "He attention…. I not!!" before crying more, much to everyone's frustration. "Well ratchet needs help little guy. I'll make it up to ya later today ok? What ya say? And if you behave there will be some chocolate for you." Blinking an eye to him, the magical C word made the pet jump with delight as it loved chocolate. Even if it meant waiting a few hours!

A few minutes, and a full tummy, later Ratchet gave out a sigh as his stomach felt good and so did he, except for the pain still souring trough his chest, but hey atleast he didn't have any hunger! At the same time the doctor came in again holding is clipboard as he saw Abel had just finished with giving Ratchet has food… "Mhhhhh, ummmm right….Looks ok…" he muttered some others things which all four of them couldn't hear very clearly. "Ratchet I'll be at the bridge making sure the ship gets prepared even with you not capable of doing anything we are still at war!" "Yea thanks, Clank… Oh and don't forget to keep Qwark away from anything electronic! Unless you want to blow up the ship." This made Abel burst out laughing but only got a small smile from the doctor who tried to stay calm. "Ok captain, I have good and bad news… Which would you prefer?" "Well let's start with the bad news then. Then Atleast I can be cheered up oh and doc when is my nanotech treatment? Cause I have this ache in my back you see…." This only made the eyebrow of the doctor go up a little. "Well the bad news is, is that you'll need to recover for a minimum three days! You will notice you can multiple things ones you regain your senses more and when the tranquilisers work off, but under no circumstances may you leave you bed! You need rest and for God's sake your are NOT allowed to do anything that requires physical labour." "Not even washing myself?!" Ratchet said as his eyes widened in shock, the fact that he couldn't do anything just made him sick in his stomach, if he had eaten anything else he would swear that his lunch was going to say hi again! "Indeed, not even that." "That's horrible how am I going to stay clean you think this fur stays clean on itself doc?" "Captain Ratchet I fully know what the problems of fur are!" said doctor Helsing frankly as he showed his own furry skin to the Lombax "I know that you will need assistance with that then! And that is were the good news comes in…" "Being?" Ratchet asked coldly, well his day was screwed anyway so it didn't matter at all. Abel tough couldn't hold his laugh in no more as Bolt just didn't understand why Abel was laughing.

"Seeing as Abel has done such a fine job at helping you eat, I am appointing him as your Lombax-sitter for the next several days!" he said with a smile. Now both males were shocked to say the least. Abel helping Ratchet for three full days? As Abel began to form a very big smile almost wanting to jump into the air, Ratchet on the contrary had the exact opposite of that as he felt doomed. Ok it could have been worse, like Qwark, Skidd, Helga or All. But still having Abel, who was very enthusiastic, around for three full days? He sighed quietly as he knew there was no point arguing that! "Oh well, Abel guess your stuck with me buddy!" ratchet said as Abel lunged at him, almost breaking another rib or so by shear strength…Ratchet cried in pain as Abel let go, getting a sign of relief from the injured Lombax and a sharp look from the doctor. "Abel, do be careful around him! He's injured after all… And we don't want him to break in two!" said the doctor. "Now Ratchet, you may go to your room tomorrow, but until then you need to stay in your bed, you should be able to move your arms better by that time. But do watch out with Abel and bolt! As your ribs aren't healed fully… That reminds me!" as he went towards a closet with strange bottles of radiant blue coming from them. "What are those?" asked Ratchet as he had never seen anything like it. "Liquid nanotech, especially handy if applied to the wounds! Or in your case injected into the bloodstream. Should you bleed it is nothing to worry about, just the nanotech taking care of your wounds." As Ratchet was amazed at this. Abel on the other hand was oblivious at what the doctor had said as he was still trying to keep Bolt calm and himself for that matter. As the doctor gave ratchet the blue substance via his injections, the pain that had crept in his chest seemed to fade away, a few of his cuts and bruises began to heal as well as the blue nanotech made it's way trough his entire body, it fell like a rush of adrenaline to the Lombax at first a experience one couldn't describe it was indescribable! But sadly the feeling faded away after a while. Much to Ratchet's disappointment who let out a small moan at the loss of feeling from it.

"I'll take my leave… Oh and Abel remember don't get to excited, he is your patient for a while. I will keep record of his progress but you will need to take care of him. For everything!" he said with a small grin as if he enjoyed that he was not the one to help ratchet with daily activities! "Well Ratchyboy seems like we are stuck together….hehehehe" "I am so going to kill you for that." Ratchet growled but both started laughing as soon as Bolt had tried to make his way over to Abel only to find something to bite on. "Bolt that's plastic! PLASTIC!!! You can't eat that…" as he reached out his hand to try and grab the fake fruit Bolt had discovered, he frankly shook his head whilst defending his "food" "MINE!" he screamed and with that tried to bite in it. Making both males grin at each other with delight.

The nanotech did wonders for Ratchet as he felt himself better every passing second, even with the feeling that had faded away. "At the bright side I at least get to command you around." Grinned ratchet as Abel just stood there smiling a fake smile, as he knew that ratchet would not make it easy for him. Well not easy in the sense of letting him go about doing stuff he liked that is. "But you do need your rest, especially with everything going on… And don't worry, Clank is filling in your job just fine." He assured ratchet that the ship was in capable hands. Just about the same time a knock was heard on the door, as a shadow formed over both Lombaxes, blinding them a bit from the light that was seen surrounding the body of the large creature. "RATCHET buddy, how are things? I heard what happened and I said to myself, Qwark you are needed with your mate. And well here I am." Qwark said laying down with a basket of fruit, which surprised Ratchet as it seemed to be the same basket Helga had given Qwark just a day ago! "Qwark are those the fruits Helga gave you?" "What do you mean?" Qwark said blushing a bit red as he quickly sat down besides Abel towering over the small Lombax, making Bolt seem even more tiny as he already was, and making Abel feel uncomfortable. "Perhaps I should check on you in a few minutes ratchet?" said Abel who quickly grabbed Bolt, still trying to bite in the plastic fruits, as he ran out of the room.

"So how do you feel? You know you remind me of me when I was your age! Only less damaged and more buffed." Qwark said as he stood up proudly showing of his famous abs again to the poor captain. "Did you come here to gloat or are you actually caring for my well being?" asked ratchet frankly at the large man. "Me not caring? Nonsense!... I just came here to ask how you felt, now if you had my muscles you would not be in this situation. Oh here have a Qwark fan doll. To pass the time." Qwark said as he stood up, making his way out of the room, but not before his head had "accidentally" hit the doorframe. "Mhhh darn these doors they should make em bigger, well Ratchet I'll see you again in a while." Qwark said before leaving the room, leaving Ratchet all alone once again. "Perhaps (yawn) I should get some sleep… Doctor's order!"

On the other side of the hallway Abel was glad to have escaped Qwark, not that he did not like the guy, but well he was weird! He glanced over at Bolt who stared at him with puppy eyes indicating he wanted something, but what Abel did not know. Perhaps being back with ratchet? Well it wouldn't surprise him one bit, as Bolt was a clone of Ratchet! "So Bolt you wanna go back I presume?" being greeted by several nods and ah "HMmmmmhhh!" from Bolt's side. Abel grinned as he thought about what he would actually do with the other Lombax. Feeding ratchet was something Abel had enjoyed a lot, seeing him well not completely helpless but the fact that ratchet needed his help and that he was able to offer this kind of assistance made him feel better if just a little. And the less pleasant things like bathing well they had to be done! Sure he had seen Ratchet naked and did not have a problem with it, but he would eventually need to bath the other male whether he, or ratchet, wanted to or not. Because Lombax fur was already hard to keep clean if one bathed every day, but doing it for someone else would be another matter.

Once he got back in the infirmary e was greeted by the snoring sound of one particular friend he knew. "Ooh is that not cute Bolt? He's fallen asleep…" Abel said as he folded his arms togheter at the sight of Ratchet snoring. Bolt immediately yawned at seeing his larger version asleep. "You are tired as well?" Abel blinked in surprise as Bolt made his way towards one of Ratchet's hands snuggling himself between it to keep itself warm. "Perhaps I better come back in an hour or three" he said quietly as he left for the 5th time the room he had been in.

Meanwhile on the bridge Clank was busy with preparing the ship as his friend had ordered a while back. He received every update via the computer or via the personal. Up until now nothing major important showed any signs of decay or irregularities. Well except a few small things like All's cappuccino machine which made the scientist go berserk, trying to find a good cup of coffee. "Are you sure you won't let the cappuccino machine be fixed, Clank? I really need to my cup of coffee about now you know." Said All as a very confused Abel walked into the room who only was greeted by a now very angry scientist. "What's his problem? I mean I know All to be a happy guy but this is just not like him" said the Lombax approaching Clank. "Ratchet what did you do to your hai…ooh it's you Abel, I'm sorry I was thinking it was Ratchet who came in, you two look so much alike." Clank apologised as Abel made his towards the small robot saying it was alright. "Any words on this GIRL group?" asked Abel out of curiosity. Clank sadly had no Intel on them, it had been quiet to quiet for his taste. If there was one thing he had learned with ratchet over the past several years was that if it was quiet there was bound to be trouble!

"Yea… I know the feeling." "You do?" but Abel did not respond to the question Clank asked. "I wonder Abel why you keep some things hidden for us! "Do you tell ratchet everything you do in private? Besides flushing out your radiator core?" winked Abel to a now red turning Clank… "I…I do not know what your talking about." "Well then we both know things we only wish for ourselves to know." Said the blue eyed Lombax towards Ratchet's friend. "So when will the ship be fully operational?" "It will only take about 2.4 days, the hyper drives are still offline but that should be fixed… But I have heard that you will be Lombax-sit Ratchet?!" Clank voice went up as he found it strange to have someone sit on someone. "Wait I'm going to "sit" on him Clank! It's a term you know. I'm just going to help him with several things that is all." He assured Clank that nothing bad would happen to ratchet, well not if Abel had anything to say or do about that! "So the hyper drives eh? Maybe I can have a look t them?!" "I'm afraid that won't be a good idea! The compartment for that is out of reach for organic life forms like yourself. It would result in a quick and painful death because of the radiation! Only robots like myself or the technical crew have access to it, and naturally Ratchet but he wouldn't want to get even within a few cubits of the device. Unless you don't mind putting on several pounds of heavy gear and equipment! And then I not even told you about the needed safety measures!"

Abel nodded in agreement, even if he was strong and fast, he still was not able to handle radiation like robots could. He sighed in despair for not being able to help, but he did fix the cappuccino machine once again which had made All's day complete again once he got back. "Well I'll be checking on ratchet oh and Clank keep me informed will ya? That way I can help Ratchet if need be…" the Lombax said as Clank nodded, making sure that Abel would be the first to know of any progress. Be it about the ship or the GIRL organisation.

Moments later and a few rooms from the bridge away ratchet yawned as he opened his eyes. He tried to lift his arm and his tail, but it was to no avail as the only lifted for a few inches still. "Darn it! My head and my mouth work fine, but my damm arms won't budge!" he growled as he began cursing some very unpleasant words for both organics _and_ robots alike! He hated not being capable of doing things and to make it worse, he needed to go to the bathroom…Quickly!!! "Man this stinks, and it will stink literally where is that damm doctor when you need him!"

Some decks lower at a certain room "I have four queens, read em and wheep people!" said doctor Helsing.

"I get the feeling he isn't coming back… And I need to go really bad! Fuck it all." Ratchet scowled as he was feeling very annoyed not to say embarrassed as he began shouting, he would not care who heard him as long as anyone just came to help him. "GUYS?!!!....ANYONE!!! This sucks. I can't even get to the fucking bathroom like this. OUCH!" he yelled as he felt another sting in his chest, it was then that he calmed down a bit seeing that whilst turning himself up like that would only result in another sting of pain. And that he wanted to avoid. As Abel ran into the room having heard the plea coming from the room itself Ratchet was delighted of seeing a familiar face. "ABEL Thank God! Where the hell is everyone? I've been shouting for like 2 bloody minutes." He said "Well it seems there preparing the ship. These decks have been checked first so that's why I assume the doctor is to the lower parts, I heard something about a small accident, involving a banana gun?" Abel asked to ratchet hoping he would know what was going on. But sadly the poor Lombax had no idea at all. "So what's the big emergency?" At this ratchet turned a bit red as he began to tell "Well I need to…this is so embarrassing! I need to go to the bathroom you know… Nature calls." He said turning even a much bigger red, his fur began to glow at certain places cause of it! Only to get a small giggle from Abel, which ratchet in his current state had not noticed yet.

"Well ummm let's see how we, by which I mean I can help you." He said blinking to ratchet unnerving the male some more. "Firstly let's get you up again, lying down is not a good way ya know." Said Abel as his hand went under Ratchet's back pulling him up with ease as his back lay now resting against his pillow. "Mhhh… Is it well do you need to go to the big bathroom?" asked Abel very unpleased. At this ratchet nodded no, much to Abel's relief as how much he cared for Ratchet, doing _that_ would be a bit to unpleasant! "Well, perhaps I'll just get a bottle? Off course if you don't mind I have no problem bringing you. It's just that taking you towards the bathroom in nothing but a boxers, will let's say that it isn't good for your image." Said Abel making sure his friend couldn't fall out of the bed as he supported him a bit more. "A bottle will be fine Abel, just close the door if you don't mind."

As Abel grasped one of those strangely formed bottles, he helped ratchet adjust to his new position, making sure he was leaning against his arms so he would not fall back onto his bed. Ratchet felt nervous as he had never been in this kind of situation before. Last time he was sick he just had a cold which Clank was able to help him by providing chicken soup, this was something new for him to say the least. "You sure you don't mind Abel?" asked ratchet with a caring voice as he saw Abel hesitate for a bit. "It's fine ratchet, I'm ok with it, besides it's not like I don't know how you look down there." He said laughing, ratchet only response was that he didn't want to force Abel to do anything, tough he was about to burst and if he wouldn't have "relief" soon that, well let's say that the cleanup bots wouldn't laugh at what mess he would create. As Abel went with his hands towards his friend he looked into his eyes, but he did not see shame or anything just a helpless Lombax who wanted to be helped. His hand went downwards towards ratchet's boxer as he pulled out the member and guiding it to the bottle where Ratchet sighed a relief as he was finally released of all the pressure that had been building up. Abel could only stare away as he found the situation a little to much for his own comfort. But was grateful when ratcheted thanked him for his help laying the Lombax back onto the bed. "Mhh that wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been, Abel… Thanks" ratchet said again. "Well I'll try and see if I can find a wheelchair or something to put you in, at the least we can then get out of this darn room! In the meantime do you need anything?" Asked Abel who suddenly realized he had left Bolt all alone in there room. "Fuck!" he screamed "What is it? Is my boxer not closed?" " No I left Bolt alone in our room. I'll be right back just gimme a second alright…?!" Ratchet could barely hear what Abel had said as the blue eyed Lombax made there way towards there room.

Some time later Abel had returned with Abel on top of shoulder, and a big wheelchair for ratchet to sit. As he guided the Lombax down he asked if he wouldn't mind Bolt on his lap. Laying a small blanket on his lap where he then proceeded to lay the small pet on. Ratchet had finally regained some ability to move his arm, as one of his hands slowly petted the small creature on his lap. Enjoying the feeling it gave him as it purred under his touch. "Hehehe it even likes to be touched the way I do behind my ears!" he said in a soft tone to Abel, who had been rolling the chair towards the mess hall. Once they arrived ratchet was greeted by the crew present at the moment, "As you were… I'm no different then any of you." He said as Abel drove him towards the kitchen, there where several stoves tonight. Ratchet's stomach growled as he smelled the food, Bolt himself was already picking something out of several boxes, most of it vegetables and some salt. "I think I'll take the Chicken Wings today… You Abel?" asked Ratchet to his Lombax-sitter "Two times Chickens Wings and one mini Chicken Wing menu please." Asked Abel to the serving bot, busy as he was, gave a shout towards the kitchen. Within several minutes Ratchet had 3 plates on his lap as Abel drove him towards an empty table, right next to were Qwark and Skidd were having there dinner. "Yo Ratchet dude how are things going? Besides the fucked up ribs eh man." Asked the green alien. "Well rather fine! Abel is taking good care of me… It's nice to have him around you know." "Well if you need me, Captain Qwark, just give a ring ok buddy?" "Will do Qwark… So Bolt do you want you chicken wing?" he asked only to be confronted by Bolt jumping on ratchet who gave a big oaf sound before Abel picked him up and placed him next to both him and Ratchet to make sure Bolt wouldn't cause any problems.

Not far from that table sat doctor Helsing who noticed Ratchet and Abel, as he approached them he tabbed Abel on the shoulder only to be greeted by a big smile as he began to feed and Bolt and Ratchet! "So how is the patient doing Abel?" asked the doctor curiously. "No problems here doc, just giving him his dinner at the moment and later on it's time for a bath." "Bath?" Ratchet's eyes opened, he knew he hadn't bathed but that would be ridicules he wanted to wash himself darn it! "Sorry ratchet, but as I said a few hours back you aren't allowed to use your limbs at all. For all you know you might make sure your ribs puncture a lung. And that I cannot have, I already told Abel about what you can and can't do. Just bare with it for a few days, nanotech needs some time you know! Especially for things like this. And an overdoses nanotech could well worsen your condition." Said helsing ina strict tone towards both of the Lombaxes before him. Whilst Bolt just kept nibbling on a banana that Abel had given him as a desert. "But…BUT!" "No butt's mister! You may be captain but I am still the head doctor here and if I so no it is a no. Or do you wish for me to give you some injections? You could use your arms more but let me tell you it will hurt like hell!... The pain in your chest will feel like minor inconveniences compared to it… Now SIT!" the entire room began to stare as the doctor had said wondering what was going on. Ratchet only got more annoyed by it and just laid his arms on his lap as Abel gave him some more food. "This will be a very long day still!" Ratchet said softly as Abel chuckled at that.


	8. Chapter 8: Fur cleaning in the bathroom

I decided to split the chapter in more parts seeing as it began to get a little to large for my taste and your reading pleasure. So enjoy another chapter.

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**Fur cleaning in the bathroom**

After a good meal, and a few burps from Bolt much to Abel's anger, all three of them, with Ratchet in his wheelchair, made there way towards there quarters. Greeting people along the way, who either wanted to ask certain things to Abel or at Ratchet. Once they reached there room Abel let Bolt loose as it quickly began to scurry for whatever it was searching for. "What's with Bolt, Abel?!" "He's searching fro something I don't know what… Oh what do you think would fit the pet? I haven't given him any clothes so far and it does get rather cold sometimes you know!" "You don't have to tell me… It's freaking cold in only boxer shorts. Thank god you gave me a blanket to keep warm during dinner!" "I couldn't leave you in just your shorts you know. Even if I liked the wrench figures on them ALOT" giggled Abel as he pointed at some of the motives he saw on Ratchet's short. "Humpfff, yes I do like those shorts, got a problem with that?" as he eyed an eyebrow towards his friend, "Hey I just said I liked them! That is all, don't need to get cocky he said as he turned towards the tv screen picking up the remote and turning the holo-vision on. "Abel I…I am sorry." He said in a sad voice, "it's just that well I'm uncomfortable with this you know. It's normally me that helps others I'm just not used to it." "Well you don't need to act like a jerk you know!" said Abel frustrated at Ratchet…

"You think it's easy for me? I was the one who freaking got you into this shit! If I didn…" he barely was able to finish of the sentence as he sank into the couch "A…bel… I, I shouldn't have it's rude of me to think… I'm sorry!" "Go away!" said Abel aggravated turning his head away. "I would if I could, alas I can't at the moment." He said laughing which made Abel actually smile as the situation was a bit ironic for both of them! "How about we get some Qwark juice? It's Qwark-o-tastic!" At the magicall word of juice Bolt jumped on Ratchet's lap, like he knew that wherever he went there was bound to be food! "Hey little guy, wanna go for a ride also eh?... Well Abel it's two to one." He blinked an eye as Abel got up from the couch putting the holo-vision off and grabbing the wheelchair. "I only wish that I was able to drive a bit! I hate this you know… Darn limbs! Can only move a bit, but it hurts like hell and I seem to have like no feeling them at all!" "Well perhaps later on the day I can fix that a bit…" said Abel with a smile giving a thumbs up to ratchet, who sadly couldn't return the favour as they went to the bar one deck lower then there own quarters.

"Gentleman, welcome to Allc Ohol's bar. So what can I get ya?" asked a orange kind of squid alien at the new gests. It seemed that the bar was almost complete full! Well who could blame the crew for wanting a little drink or in the robot's case a bit of oil. Abel took the menu card whilst making sure Bolt wouldn't go anywhere, last thing they wanted was a small Lombax pet going amuck on the drinks! Not to mention the pet never drank anything which contained even a drop of alcohol so it wouldn't work out anyway! "Let's see here, ooh seven bolts discount on the Qwark-o-tastic drink eh? That's good!" said Abel at Ratchet who was now making sure Bolt couldn't run off, the small pet didn't like it one bit. But at the least it was warm and fluffy!

"We'll take a glass each and for Bolt, what do you say Bolt? Wanna have a small drink like us? But do be careful!" "Me drink….YEY!" said the small pet very enthusiastic tough it didn't fully understand what a Qwark-o-tastic drink was. But it fine for him as long as it was food. "Those pets sure have your appetite Ratchyboy!" Ratchet couldn't care less at the moment, he was happy to not be inside that darn infirmary… Far to cold for his taste and nothing to do. But here he could talk with his fellow crew and all. Speaking of the crew, several bots from the old 41th Division came up to ask how Ratchet was doing "Seems like you've beaten yourself up pretty badly, sir!" said X45 as bots Y99 and V30 agreed. They were all bots that used to serve under Captain Sasha back in the war with Nefarious. "Ya think?" Ratchet said cocking an eyebrow at the robots. "Oh well I'll be back at work in a day or so said the doctor. And you three ready for a new adventure?" "With you sir? Any day!" "Well carry on then." He said with a small smile as the drinks were served. "Hey Ratchet what I don't understand is why do we have a freaking bar on the ship? I mean why don't we drink in the mess hall?!" asked the Lombax curious. "For starters, this place is for relaxation this entire deck is! One can enjoy games, watch holovision and it eases the guys up some more! I used to come here with Sasha back in the old day for some air hockey… Because as you can see the interior here is not like the rest of the ship." Ratchet told him as he pointed out towards the walls that had been decorated with several pictures, some new others old. Each one having there own tale to tell to the person reading the description.

On the other side of the room was a huge jukebox playing one of the newest hits of Courtney Gears, and the people enjoyed themselves, Abel figured out that whilst working was the top priority, having a day off or so once in a while was good for anyone. And what better way then to have a deck devoted to such activities?!

"Umm Abel a little help here?!" Ratchet asked as he tried to sip from his drank. It hit Abel like a brick that ratchet was still unable to move his limbs properly let alone drink something. He quickly went to the bar requesting a straw for his friend. Once he returned he saw that Bolt had already finished his drink and even was busy drinking the one that was ordered for ratchet! "Hey Bolt shoo… that's not yours!" Bolt hearing Abel's voice angry towards him quickly took a defensive stand as if he was holding a stick or something till the small creature noticed he did not have anything. He stood in front of the glass screaming MINE and AWAY towards Abel. "Bolt that's not yours and you know that!... Now give it back." The small pet sighed as the drink was lifted away still not happy about it. He liked it and he wanted more "Abel… Me (hic)" The small pet had gotten a hiccup from all the gasses in the drink. It began to ran across the table wanting to have it go away, all the while Ratchet looked in disbelieve at how fast it could run almost not able to hold in his own laugh at the same time… "(hic) NO (hic) BAD (hic)" cried the poor pet who did not know what was happening to him. Whatever it was it had something to do with that darn liquid he was given. "That happens when you drink to fast Bolt. It will fade away in a while." Said Abel with a caring voice, putting the straw in Ratchet's glass, brining it to his mouth so he could drink. Bolt sadly was not happy at all but if Abel said something it was most of the time true. Still the pet would have his revenge against the Qwark or whatever it was! Ratchet let out a sigh of relief once he had drank the entire glass. "You know this drink is not that bad… Once you get used to the bubbles!" he said as the holovision above the bar went static until the screen turned back to normal much to the anger of several viewers. "We interrupt your daily program to bring you a special live report… Is that not right Juanita?!" "It sure is Dallas" hitting the green alien in the face as he tried to put on a cigar right in front of the holovision. "Just moments ago the Blargian home world, Orxon, has been brutally attacked by what is now known as the GIRL… We go live towards the planet." Said the female robot as both she and Dallas took out a cup of coffee before realising they were still on "DALLAS were still live!!" she whispered as Dallas quickly hid the muck. "It seems we are having some difficulty people… Wait I just hear it has been fixed. Nice work Joe!!!" he screamed towards someone off-screen before again noticing the blinking red light. "This is so gonna get me fired!" As the screen finally jumped towards what looked like Orxon, the first glimpse of it was horrible. Buildings had caught fire or had been completely destroyed or vaporised. As hundreds of Blargs fled for there lives… It was true the planet had been cleaned up so that people could live there. But even so it still looked like hell for many species, the things they saw however shocked everyone in the room including Ratchet and Abel. "This is Darla Gratch reporting to you live from Orxon for Channel-64 where the siege is still going on by what people have began to call the GIRL." As the bot tried to get one of the screaming citizens on screen she herself was almost blasted by a green beam that was coming from the air.

"Miss miss, can you tell us what happened?" the robot asked to a Blargian women. "They just came out of nowhere firing at everything… I ran… OMG!!!" as the screen went static for a few seconds after a large flash of light had enveloped the entire screen. "As you can see the planet cannot hold there own against these Robonoids attacks as the local Galactic rangers are no match, still putting up a valiant struggle… This was Darla Gratch for Channel-64 news." Gasps could be heard from the bar as people both organic and robot alike could not believe what they had seen. "Those damm Noids are gonna pay!" said one of the robots who got support from others. Abel and ratchet also could not believe what they had seen. An entire planet to waste and for what?

"They need to pay for that!" Ratchet shouted as another surge of pain came up his spine, Abel immediately reacted to it by holding his arm around the poor Lombax. Bolt himself got frightened resulting in the breaking of a glass and the soaking of Ratchet's upper body by the juice that was in it. As quickly as Bolt figured out what he did he jumped on ratchet licking at the fur whilst giving large eyes to Ratchet pleading not to be angry with him. "It's alright, Bolt, it was a mere accident. Nothing to worry about" as Abel smiled at the pet, whilst trying to hold his laugh as the captain was now turning a bit purple greenish like on the fur. "Well this sucks! First I land in the infirmary, then those darn nanotech and things, thirdly not being able to do anything and now this." He said as he tried to lift his arms up, but to no avail. "Wait I'll get some tissues to clean you up. Tough that might not work you know." "Just hurry up Abel, the longer this stuff is on me the more sticky it gets. And how much I like the fact Bolt is helping me, he's getting a bit to close to private parts!" he said as Abel turned around to see what was going on, Bolt had made his way from Ratchet's chest all the way to the rim of the poor captain's boxer as the blanket had fallen down as soon as Bolt had jumped on Ratchet.

The pet was smelling at the strange piece of clothing as he was trying to find more of the juice to help Abel with the cleaning, well he only managed to get Ratchet under a lot of saliva which in a way was as worse as the juice. "Oooh no little buddy, that's a no no, just stay on here on the table!!" Abel said picking Bolt up who had almost managed to get into ratchet's underwear (literally!). Ratchet sighed a sign of relief as Abel quickly made his way back with some tissues cleaning the Lombax a bit better then Bolt had whilst making sure to at least keep an eye at his pet, because who knew what it was going to do next!

"Seems like I can't clean you up very well, the darn juice has already soaked you to much…" "Yea I figured that out a minute ago. …Pfff, I can't clean myself sadly. And this mess needs to be cleaned up!" All the while the people in the room had there gaze shifted towards there captain who had now been covered under the Qwark juice, and partially of Bolt's saliva, who himself was now coughing up a small hairball from the fur it had ingested.

"Back to work people… Nothing to see here!" said a large alien, it was All he had seen what happened and quickly came to Abel's assistance. "Hehehe, seems like your all wet again Ratchet why don't you two go clean yourselves up? I'll be happy to pay the tab. " "Thanks All." Said ratchet caringly "I owe you one!" said the other Lombax as Both he and Ratchet and Bolt made there way towards there quarters, getting some strange views from people who wondered why the captain looked a bit greenish. As if he was sick to almost being well contagious most personnel, crew and bots tried not to get to close. This atleast made Abel's job a lot easier! As it meant clear hallways and free elevators the moment he got anywhere. Several minutes, and hallways, later they finally arrived back at there quarters. "Bolt you stay in the room you hear?!" Abel said strict to the small pet who only nodded. Quickly running of to the holovision. Much to Abel's surprise the creature had learned how to turn on the holovision by jumping on the buttons of the remote. "Well what do you know! He figured it out." "What?" asked Ratchet who was turned the other way around hearing something on the holovision but well he couldn't quite hear what was being said. "Bolt figured out how to get the holovision activated, Ratchet!" said Abel happy at him. Well why he is busy watching, what do you say about cleaning that fur of yours eh?" Ratchet smiled at the idea of having his fur cleaned, Lombaxes had a nature of getting dirty but evenso they never liked being filthy! Ok well ratchet did not like it. He never saw any Lombaxes anywhere, as far as he knew he, Abel and his brother Caine were the only ones he knew that actually were Lombaxes. Sure Angela Cross looked like one but she was way to tall for a Lombax, had no tail and well her stripes didn't match his own!

He had always enjoyed it when he was bathing making sure to get every patch of fur clean as good as possible. Alas not always did he have that luxury. A year or two back when he was captured by Gleeman Vox and put in that darn armour he never had the chance to bath not even wash his ears! He was half dead once the armour had been removed by All, only to show his body had been almost completely destroyed, his fur had gone more brownish, perhaps cause of the facia, his tail had been bent in every possible way imaginable and beyond. So being able to bathe was a luxury found the green eyed Lombax. Abel took the wheelchair into his hands as he began to drive them out of the room. Bolt had found a cooking program, drooling as he saw all the delicious food in front of him. But cried once he had realised it wasn't real.

Once outside the room, Abel drove Ratchet to the main hallway, but instead of going towards the bridge, he made his way to the elevator. He pressed the button to call for it. All the way humming a small song which Ratchet seemed to recognize. "Abel what are you humming?" asked the Lombax to his friend. Curious of where he had heard it before! "Ooh this? It's just a small thing I learned from…" he immediately went quiet as if he was petrified. "Ooh right you aren't allowed to say that. Sorry it was rude of me." He said in a very sad voice "Ratchet… It's not your fault it's just that I… I can't tell you everything even tough I would like nothing more." Said Abel as the lift stopped and the doors opened. Abel began to push it again, his white clothes dangling over his body as the wheelchair made it's way ever so close towards the bathing area. Sure ratchet had his own personal shower, but showering with him in a condition like this?! It would not be a good option for him. Besides Abel had never been in the real bathing area before! He had heard Qwark say there was a sauna, hot-spa and other grand things. But he never went there before. It was one of the relaxation area's ratchet had told him. As ratchet told Abel where the drive. Being captain had one advantage tough grinned the Lombax… "I get to "boss" people around." He said chuckling as Abel just gave him a "huh?" look on his face. "It's nothing Abel just keep driving straight trough! It's over there." He said trying to point towards the large sign hanging above a closed door. As the door opened warm suiting air enveloped both males as Abel pushed the wheelchair even more into the room. It was a very damp and hot environment, something Lombaxes preferred. If it was hot then they liked it!

"We're in luck buddy… Everyone is busy with getting the ship ready." Said Ratchet "Tough I do feel a bit guilty for not helping them." "Oh chin up Ratchet, they need you once the ship is ready. Besides you're the best guy on this thing you know." This made Ratchet look up "Thing? It's called the Phoenix you know!" as he began to laugh with a confused Abel. "Ok Phoenix then. Jesus! You sound like Qwark when you misspell his name!" said the blue eyed male as they went further into the rooms. "So what would you like to do? They have sauna's, hot-spa's, a swimming pool even eh? Even whirlpools, steam baths, Blargian bubble makers! Ooh even a massage!" cried Abel like a high school girl. He was in for a nice massage. But he quickly regained himself as he knew that it was Ratchet that needed his attention and not he…

"Well what do you say we first go into a sauna sweat out the dirt. And then get ourselves cleaned up eh?" Ratchet said happy at the mere thought of finally getting clean again. With that said Abel pushed the chair towards one of the larger locker rooms. Ratchet himself was only in a boxer so that shouldn't take to much trouble of getting him out of them! Abel thought to himself as he began to pull his shirt over his head. Revealing the many blue tattoos on his back to Ratchet.

It made him wonder what they meant, but Abel would never tell him it anyway. The markings themselves were between his dark fur patorns. His ears for instance had three brown strips, and between each of them ran a similar blue one. Same for his arms, tough unlike on his ears these gave the effect of being like a ring around the body. Whilst those on his stomach stopped as soon as they reached the chest. Ratchet giggled a little as Abel took his pants of, revealing a small blue dot just above his tail. It looked kind of cute on the Lombax. Then again blue stood him perfectly. As soon as Abel had taken of all his clothes he grabbed a white towel and put it around his waste before making his way to Ratchet. The other Lombax just sat in the chair enjoying the heat that was all around them… Sure it was a bit wet, but it helped him relax more. It was soothing on the muscles at the very least.

"So Ratchet, now it's your turn. Can you life your legs a bit?!" Abel asked not knowing if he was capable of doing anything actually. Because his feet must have been the same as his arms were, paralyzed to make sure he wouldn't feel to much pain. "Why would I care at this point? I mean you already helped me at a far more awkward situation so I'm fine with it." Said Ratchet as the last doubts in Abel's mind faded away like snow in the sun. As Abel made sure ratchet could rest on his arm, he undid him of the last piece of clothing, making sure the Lombax was the same as the day he was born. He even went as far as dragging the poor lad towards the sauna setting him in a corner whilst fetching some water. Tough ratchet couldn't care, he was alone with one of his best friends so what could go wrong? "This is heaven Abel!" he said as soon as Abel had returned pouring some water on the hot coals, which now emitted a lot of heat and steam. Abel did not seem to be effected by the heat even enjoying it as much as the other Lombax did. Tough unbeknownst by both of them was the figure that had entered the room making way towards the sauna.

"Yo dudes, you two here to chill as well eh?" it seemed like Skidd had also decided to take a small sauna. "Skidd????! Wha…what are you doing here?!" Ratchet said very ashamed of his current situation. "Yo Ratchet dude what's the big problem?! It is a sauna ya know." Skidd said as he noticed the captain wasn't wearing anything unlike him and Abel… "Well Abel mind if you grab a towel? I don't umm well you know." He said nervously at his friend as Abel quickly went to fetch a towel and cover Ratchet up. "So Skidd, hehehe, I never knew you took sauna's." "Well you know me I like to chill!" this made Abel and Ratchet laugh at the irony of the situation. The three of them began to chat about various topics, from the GIRL towards work, free time even towards girls. A subject that Abel just found weird to say the least. Tough Ratchet and Skidd never noticed it!

"Well dudes, I'm leaving ya both… I need to help Helga and Qwark adjust some gizmothingamaging ya know. Very important stuff! Orders from Clank!" Well unbeknowst to Skidd was that the gizmothingamaging was nothing more then fix the bathroom sink at All's quarters! A few minutes later Abel dragged Ratchet outside as they had spent around half an hour inside the sauna and both were getting tired. Still ratchet's fur which was now very damp was still messy! And Abel himself could do with a nice bath himself. Making there way towards the communal bathing area only several rooms far from where the saunas were, Abel let warm water fill up the bathtub. It was a large square one, there had even been several "seats" placed for people to sit on. Something Abel liked a lot as this would make his job a bit easier.

"Well time to clean that fur of yours Ratchet!" said Abel as he put Ratchet on one of the seats in the bathtub. The warm water engulfing his skin and making his fur wet whilst taking away part of the smell of soda. Abel entered from the other side into the tub, having disposed of his towel as soon as he had set one foot into the warm water. He was never used to bathing other people, but this was ratchet and they were alone so it did not bother him. He grabbed some soap and smeared it over his hands making it foam, his hands barely visible trough the white bubbles that had formed. He made his way towards Ratchet who was waiting to be groomed from top to bottom. As Abel's hands made contact with the wet fur Ratchet moaned a bit as the sop itself was warm via Abel's body heat. He welcomed it as the hands began to work there up and down his back, not missing a single part! His shoulder blades were cleaned the fastest as Abel made his was more downwards concentrating right above the tail. The tattoo that Abel noticed on ratchet's back unnerved him a little as if it was a sign of danger for him. But he ignored it nonetheless. "I'm going to do your tail first ratchet then your arms." Said Abel to his friend. Whose only answer was a low purr as he was enjoying being washed like that. Ratchet had his eyes closed as his body was feeling Abel's hands working there way over his back towards his tail not missing an inch of fur or the skin beneath it!

As Abel took the Lombax tail between his palms he gently rubbed it from the base to the tip. The soap enveloped it making it seem as if he had white tail instead of gold like one with brown stripes on it! The tail was easy as it had suffered almost no damage except a cut or bruise here or there. But the arms and legs were a different matter! Besides the broken ribs his limbs had received quite a beating by the intense speed, so Abel had to be careful not to hurt his friend. Tough ratchet would not know because of the sedative it would still hurt once it wore off.

He took the left arm and washed it as did he with the right one. Being very strict to himself to not rush things, after a few minutes he began to turn around Ratchet facing him from the front. He took some water in his hands as he let it stream down of the other male's chest getting it wet from the warm water. A small whimper escaped ratchet's lips from the cold that replaced the warm water as it evaporated from the fur taking with it some of the heat. All the while keeping his eyes shut enjoying the feeling, the moment. As Abel was careful not to put to much pressure he sopped in Ratchet's chest and stomach. When the Lombax was fully sopped in from the waist up Abel couldn't stop but laugh, it looked as if he had created a sop snowlombax! "Oh man you should see yourself! It's hilarious" he said to ratchet who could only sigh as he saw himself including parts of his tail completely covered in soap. Abel then grabbed water with his hands letting it fall from Ratchet's shoulder onto his body. The soap falling away as it was replaced by water. After his upper body had been cleaned, Abel took ratchet to a higher plane, which actually was not to ratchet's pleasing as the water was now replaced by cold wind! Making him shiver a bit. "Don't worry I'll only need a few more minutes!" said the Lombax as he grasped one of the feet. Rubbing his own hands with soap again the again washed the other one. His hands making there way to a somewhat more private sector, but ratchet did not complain and thus Abel continued washing. He went over the thighs, the legs, everything was washed, even the groin, (something that ratchet seemingly hadn't noticed by the shivering.) once that was done he grabbed him under the arms before letting him sink back into the water. "Thanks Abel! I needed that." said Ratchet opening his eyes to see Abel washing himself now. "Don't think of it… I was glad to help you out, that reminds me it's almost 21:00 right? You need another nanotech session. I'll finish myself first and then I'll help you get out ok?" The actual reason Abel wanted to stay in a bit longer was because he had gotten a small erection from having to bath ratchet fully like that. He knew he liked Ratchet but this was just a bit shameful and even he, not bothered with being naked, found it a bit too awkward! Even for his taste…

After having taken care of his inconvenience and having washed himself, Abel dried him off with a large white towel. Whilst afterwards doing the same with a wet ratchet. He dressed the Lombax in clean clothes he found and put his own white outfit back on. "So let's see for that nanotech shall we?" asked Ratchet to Abel, he did not like to boss Abel around, but he did feel a bit sick. So some nanotech would do him good.

Back at the infirmary, doctor Helsing had already prepared the nanotech for Ratchet. "Aah there is my favourite patient. And with Abel!" The doctor seemed to be very happy at seeing the both of them for a weird reason. Neither one cared for it tough, ratchet was happy as he got his nanotech and Abel was happy to see it went better with ratchet. The nanotech bonded some of his wounds again, and he had less pain in his ribs! "So, you only need around three more treatments and then you'll be back as new. And not a moment to soon it seems from what I've heard on the holovision." "FUCK!" cried Ratchet as he had completely forgotten about that! "Well let's hope I'll be better soon doc!... As we have important things to do." "Calm down Ratchet you just concentrate on getting better first. Then we can deal with the bad guys." Abel said with a happy tone at his Lombax friend. "I'm sure both of you will now hup hup, get out of here! I have another schedule with let's see here… Aah Qwark!" With that the Lombaxes , with ratchet still in his chair but now capable of pushing it himself, saw that Qwark entered the infirmary not asking him why he was needed there.

"Aaah Captain Copernicus Leslie Qwark! You're just in time for your treatment." The doctor said grinning to himself. "Well doctor as long as you know that I, Captain Qwark, don't want to hear my full name… Now what can you do about my…"

Meanwhile back at Ratchet and Abel's room, they were greeted by Bolt. Before Ratchet made his way to his bed, Abel helping him in it. Before going to his own bed falling asleep, tired from the many things he had done that day.


	9. Chapter 9: The Robonoids Menace

Terribly sorry, school has been catching up, and I'm in exams soon. Which is a good thing and bad. Bad because I won't be able to type every day nor will the chapters proceed this fast (especially because exams are important) but the good news is, is that I have long weekends Thursday till Sunday, so I can use Thursday as my writing day so I won't fall to much behind.

Enjoy!

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**The Robonoids Menace**

Since the Robonoids had declared war against Solana and the Galactic Forces, several planets had been brutally massacred. No organic life form had survived the onslaught, even several robots had been destroyed in the progress. As a retaliation the Galactic navy had been set on high alert in order to protect other planets from the same fate as had bestow upon Orxon, and several other planets.

Intel gathered by the Galactic Rangers, indicated that the next planet to be attacked would be Novalis. Immediately several high cruisers had been dispatched to secure the planet before any Robonoid army would gather there.

As several hyper gates opened, three mighty vessels appeared above the planet of Novalis. Almost exactly the same as the Phoenix was, but only smaller in size..

"Hyperspace jump successful sir, all ships have arrived safely." Said a robot towards the captain. "Good prepare the crew and launch the fighters as soon as you can. We need to be ready before the GIRL gets here! We'll show those bastards some thing about waging _real_ war!" said the alien. The captain's name was Alden, a Cazar, one of the best veterans the galactic navy had in there service. It was he who had proposed to sent a small but elite force towards Novalis to set up an ambush at the planet.

"All Interceptors are being launched sir, they will be deployed around the ship in T-minus 8 minutes." "Prepare all onboard weaponry, if even a darn crack is heard I want missiles to those locations. Send some Drop ships with several squads to secure the ground as well." A loud siren began to cry as organics and robots alike began to run, some of them towards the hangar bays, others to there station within the mighty vessels. Huge pods carrying several squads of Galactic Rangers were plunged from the hangar bays into space. As only robots were inside the Drop ships, the loading time was much faster then when organics would also journey alongside with them. As they did not need to worry about life support for them.

Each ship launched several ships into the atmosphere, the heat was immense making the blue plating glow a fiendishly red colour as it descended towards the planet. Some Interceptors had been send along the way to secure the ships when being in such a fragile state. Whilst the mother ships on there turn, were preparing there weaponry. Each ship was dubbed a name after a bird. The most powerful and intimidating one was what the crew called the Falcon, the other two had been dubbed the Eagle and the Sparrow. The Eagle had superior sensors and radar equipment, whilst the Sparrow had been adjusted to take in special weaponry as well as the newest prototype fighters: the F-305.

The Drop ships had no problem landing, as Novalis was equipped to handle large space crafts with ease. Not even letting the ship land properly as the rangers already jumped of securing the area for several other Drop ships to land. "Area secure sir!" said a Galactic Ranger towards anotherone, this bot had several golden insignia's on his shoulder marking him the rank of Sergeant, perhaps Corporal. The veteran bot looked around the area as he gave several orders. The bots spread out as a small communication network was et up and a link towards the Falcon was established. "What's your status Sergeant?" asked the captain on the ship, hoping that everything had gone smooth. "No problems so far sir! We will give the Noids a warm welcome once they arrive… You can can't wait I am getting a… GET DOWN!" screamed the bot as he made his he jumped to the ground, the screen turning into white snow as the communication had been lost. "Sergeant? SERGEANT!! Get me a link up asap! I want to know what the fuck is going on there!" shouted the enraged captain at the crew, which began to work hard.

Whatever had happened on Novalis, it could not be good. Perhaps the Robonoids, well that was the first thing that came into the captains mind as he tried to figure out what had caused the link to fail but he was taken out of his daydream as one of his subordinates began to address him "Sir we got multiple energy signatures coming from the planet…" fear began to strike the captains face as it struck him like a lightning bolt "There already here." He said quietly sweating as he figured out what those energy ratings meant. "Get the shields up NOW!!!" he screamed as some of the bots began to work hastily not knowing what the problem was, but it was to late, several bright flashes came at them at high velocity as the shield began to consume the entire ship the beam already had managed to hit the engine area. A huge shockwave penetrated the ship as crewmembers were sent flying from one part of the room to another, explosions took down several decks as sirens began to make deafening noises indicating breaches in the hull. As the captain regained consciousness after the blast he was stricken with grief, everwhere he looked there was destruction, some parts of the bridge had been completely destroyed whilst other sections barely had power to function straight. As he tried to stand up he noticed his legs would not budge. He was bleeding down his arm as one of them had been broken. "Arrgh… dammit how did we make a mistake like this?!" he crused to himself. The shield had managed to spare the ship from total destruction, but it was heavily damaged. No response came from either the Sparrow or the Eagle. Several bots that survived the initial blast came quickly to the captain's aid, having sustained minor injuries themselves. "Captain are you alright?!" "It's fine G56… Just try and get us out of here quickly!" "What of the men on the planet?" asked the bot confused not wanting to leave several hundred of them on the planet.

Unbeknownst to the Galactic navy however was the fact that the Intel that was given to them had been send to them deliberately luring the entire fleet into a trap. The GIRL had already invaded the planet and were just waiting for the Galactic Navy to send in there ships.

"Darn it bot, this is an order!!! The GIRL knew we would arrive here it was a trap for US. Now unless you want this ship to be destroyed with the next attack I suggest you get the darn hyper drive online again!" said the captain to the bots.

Meanwhile on the planet, the Galactic Rangers were being overwhelmed. "Where did those damm Noids get from? P98 get your can over here and give backup to squad Delta!" The Robonoids knew perfectly what to do, they had been waiting for the arrival of the Ranger for some time and had taken up key positions. The Rangers were not only outnumbered and outgunned, but they were cornered. "Get this ship back to into space we might escape just yet!" as several missiles were fired from the hills at the ascending ship. Destroying it within an instant. Cries could be heard over the communication network as flames and explosions killed of everything on the vessel. Every once in a while the rangers got lucky and were able to fend of some of two eyed Robonoids as they came in charging with there guns. But it was to no avail, screatching could be heard in the sky as bombers made there way towards the landing site. "Bombers? Noids don't have that tech! Rangers shoot them down!" anarchy settled over the remaining survivors as they began to run for there lives, some get impaled by friendly fire even trying to flee. Others then again got shot by lasers or fell into the water.

The interceptors had problems of there own, almost all but one had been taken down when the initial attack had been launched at them. "We can't hold them off! There gaining on us…" said a voice covered in fear and despair. "God dam it I know, trying to outmanoeuvre them. We need to get back to the mother ship!!" Another voice said, trying to hide has anger. It did not take long before a beeping sound was heard as both of them watched on the monitor, seeing a small dot gaining on them and gaining fast. "FUCK they locked on to us, hold on tight!" as the interceptor accelerated to top speed, trying to shake off the missile that had been fired at them. "Come on only a few fore kilocubits!! Don't let down lass…" said the robotic pilot as he turned his ship around trying to avoid the incoming danger. His organic partner wasn't so sure if they would succeed. "This is Red Beaver calling mother ship. We need IMMEDIATE assistance!!!" said the organic one trough the mike but only static could be heard. "Where are those darn reinforcements?! We need them those darn Robonoids are gaining on us." Said the robotic pilot as he saw the that the beeping had stopped, this spooked him a bit as normally the missile would have gained on them. Looking trough the window he saw a small object falling to the ground. "SWEET! Darn thing fell outta juice! Damm Noids won't get me!" growled the bot as he dived towards the ground.

Back on the Falcon bots were busy trying to get the hyper drive back online. What was left of it anyway, as the energy beams had cut straight trough it. Several engineer bots had been completely vaporised when the beam had struck there section, making it all the harder for the other ones to fix the engine. But for once luck was on there side as the lights sprung back on indicating the engine was back online. Captain Alden was informed as he ordered an immediate evacuation towards the nearest rendezvous point. As the engine propelled the ship towards hyperspace they barely escaped a second attack from the planet. Alden fell to the ground sick as to what he had just ordered but was at the same time relieved as he began to think of what he had just survived trough and not to mention the lives he had saved.

8 Hours ago

The day had started great for Ratchet, Al informed him that the ship was almost completely checked and could be ready for battle in no time. Clank had done a great job replacing him as everything was done as he would have done it himself. And the best part of all, he was allowed to get back to work this afternoon!

"Life feels good doesn't it Clank?" asked the Lombax to his metal friend. "Even tough I do not feel Ratchet, I sympathise with you over the fact that it is indeed a nice day!" said the robot in his usual monotone voice. "Very funny Clank" said Ratchet in a sarcastic voice. It surprised him that he had not seen Abel yet! And Qwark was also to quiet this time of the day. "Maybe I'll check it out." He said as Clank had no idea what his furry friend was talking about. Ratchet grabbed his stick to support him and went out to search for Abel. It was a hard burden on us body to try and stand up, but Ratchet was already very happy that he did not need to depend on anyone as much as he had the last days.

First up was there own quarters right after he entered the main hall via the bridge. If Abel would not be there then there could only be a few more places he could be. As he entered the room the door closing behind him he saw the room empty. Except for a very large cage at the left side of Abel's bed, Bolt's place, Ratchet went up towards the unusually large, well it was almost as large as the place they had constructed for Qwark when he was a monkey, contraption. He began spotting the entire terrain searching for the pet. "Bolt? Are you in here… I'm looking for Abel!" asked Ratchet hoping Bolt would show himself. No response followed much to his concern, but he was hearing something a sort of snoring. "Aah he's sleeping. Better not disturb the little fella then." As he saw the tip of a Lombax tail hanging out one of the many sleeping places Abel had created for the creature. Ratchet searched everywhere from that point on, the mess hall, the bathing area's, every place he knew Abel could be hanging around. All of them had been checked except for the hangar bay. "Offcourse! He must have gone for a ride… Mhhhh he should have told me that before he went out! Darn Lombax is so careless!" he growled softly as he began to make his way to the control tower of the Phoenix. The door to the room opened as several bots of various size saluted the captain coming in on his stick.

Some of the robots got confused as to why the captain was here, normally he did not bother coming towards the tower less something had happened. "Has any ship left the hangar yet?!" he asked, he got a firm nod from several bots. They explained that Qwark wanted to have some flying lessons from Abel and since Qwark was a "high officer" none bothered with the order that he Abel would take a small joy ride. At this he let oh a sigh he knew Abel did not like many rules, but atleast he was with Qwark so he was more worried they he would do something stupid then Abel! The robots began to scan for there frequencies, it only took them about a min or so before they had established a connection towards the two ships. "Abel…Qwark. Care to explain this?" a small oh ooh was heard from the ship Qwark was piloting, making Ratchet chuckle a bit to which the bots just gave a strange glare towards the Lombax. "Ratchet buddy, funny thing hehe, I was teaching Abel how to fly Captain QWAAAARK style." "Is that so Qwark? Then care to explain why the control tower crew told me you asked Abel for fly lessons?" Ratchet would have paid some bolts to see the expression one the alien his face, as it would have been priceless. "Uurrmmm… You would not understand it Ratchet, these are euuh Captain Qwark related things. You would not understand it even if I explained it… Is that not right Abel?" at this Abel's voice began to speak, showing the blue eyed Lombax in the cockpit, his hair now under a pilot's cap like with Ratchet. It seemed to be showing his more feminine side, as he almost seemed to be a female Lombax. "Well Qwark that is not entie…" "See he fully agrees. But we will be turning back towards your locatioaaaAAAH! What in MY name is that?!" Qwark screamed as the crew in the control room began to receive weird readings. "QWARK? ABEL!!!!" Ratchet yelled as he saw how the screen went a white snow like. "We lost there signal sir, something is interfering with our broadcast!" said one of the bots searching desperate for an answer. "Ratchet? We got a situation here on the bridge!" Clank had been able to find out where the Lombax. "Affirmative Clank, I'll be there as soon as I can… You keep searching for that signal. I want to know what the hell is going on here!" as he was saluted with several sir's as he left the control room, the green eyed Lombax made his was as quickly as he could towards the bridge. Clank was already waiting for him as he urged the captain to kick up the pace. Much to Ratchet's irritation! The door opened to the bridge showing anarchy inside, bots and organics had been busy to try and fix the white hazel that had even reached the bridge room. It was like something had taken over the ship.

It took Al some minutes alongside with Clank to reroute and start the system up again. At the same time the main monitor jumped on, showing a Cazar of some sorts. "Sasha?" asked Ratchet not capable of recognizing anyone in it cause of the interference "This….Alden…he.p!" "It sounds like that man is in trouble Ratchet! We need to go and help him." Said Clank to his friend who seemed to have been dazing into a day dream. "Clank can you get there location?... You four start up the engines… Al? Try and get contact with that person!" everyone began to do as ordered, Clank had easily found the coordinates but as soon as ratchet heard what they were his eyes widened as if he had seen a horrible image. "Abel and Qwark!" "Did you say something, ratchet?" asked the metallic robot. "I want this ship over at those coordinates NOW!" he yelled much to everyone's surprise.

Not far from the Phoenix Abel and Qwark had been gasping at the sight. Just as ratchet had laid contact with them, a hole opened in space and a giant ship came flying straight trough. All beaten up and almost on the brink of destruction! Abel tried to contact the Phoenix but for some odd reason he was not capable of making a good signal with it. "Darn it! Qwark are you alright?!" he asked as he saw that the vital signs of Qwark ship were intact. "What is THAT thing?" Qwark had never seen a ship like this before. It was not as large as the phoenix but it sure looked like a copy of it! He made his way towards the ship overcoming his fear by pure curiosity. Indeed the ship bared a lot of resemblance towards the Phoenix, from the layout towards where the bridge was and hangar bays. Abel on the other hand scanned the ship, and gasped as his monitor gave life signs still coming from within. "Qwark there are people inside!... Attention vessel, this is Abel from the Phoenix, come in please. Over." Silence overwhelmed the cockpit as Abel listened carefully to any sound. "This is captain Alden of the Falcon we need help! Over." Said the man over the communication. "What is your status Falcon? Over." Abel gave out a sign of relief once the captain told him that they were safe at the moment. And was very glad to hear that the Phoenix was in the vicinity.

"Engines are coming online in 5…4…3…2…1… we have ignition sir!" Ratchet was glad to hear this as the mighty Phoenix began to move. Inside the ship one would not notice it moving at great speed, but then again it was the most modern ship in the entire fleet! Her mighty engines roared as it began to push the ship towards its new location. Ratchet hoped in the bottom of his soul that Abel and Qwark were alright. He felt kind of guilty not paying attention to what was going on, on his ship!!! Ratchet gazed into the cold deep space of the universe, passing the same ice field he and Abel had used several days ago for the small fly contest. It send shivers down his spin as he recalled what had happened that faithful day.

"We have a large unidentified vessel in front of us sir… We also picked up two signals of our on interceptors!" "Are they alright? Can you establish a link?!" Ratchet gazed at the robot as it began to type on it's keyboard trying to open up a link to the ships. But they were to late as a familiar face began to show on screen. "ABEL!!!" Ratchet screeched with joy as he saw the blue eyed Lombax. "This is Abel for the Phoenix, we found something, a ship and it has survivors on it! Send aid. Over…" Clank tugged at ratchet's pants to get his attention even pulling the poor Lombax to the ground cause of the force he applied. "I can confirm it ratchet! There are indeed life forms on that ship I suggest we send a few ships to pick them up!" ratchet began to think, the ship was badly damaged and he could not risk it that these were pirates. But then again the ship looked very familiar! "Send out Drop ship 3G and 8H. Each with a squadron of Galactic Ranger I don't want to be surprised by anything.

Afterwards Abel informed ratchet that he and Qwark would get back the hangar bay as the Drop ships would need time to take of and land and they wished to help in supplying them.

Several moments later two ships were deployed from the belly of the Phoenix making there way towards the large ship. "This is Drop ship 3G and 8H calling vessel. Over." This time the signal came true clearly for both the Phoenix and the Drop ships. "This is captain Alden of the Falcon, we need assistance as we are heavily damaged. Over." Ratchet was surprised, this was a Galactic Navy ship?! No way it could have been this badly damaged. Reports showed that the shield had been drained towards 5% capacity and the hull had been breached on several places, if they hadn't been completely vaporised! "Clank are you sure this is correct?" asked the Lombax "I would not say so if I was not sure." Clank said annoyed at the fact his friend still something thought that he could make mistakes. He was besides a robot! And robots don't say anything unless they are right. Ratchet immediately ordered for the Drop ships to board with the Falcon. "Falcon this is captain ratchet of the Phoenix, we are sending aid! Over."

It was complete anarchy over at the Falcon, the initial burst to get into hyperspace had resulted in several compartments to be completely destroyed by the immense heat that was generated, as the shields were not able to withstand the force anymore. Crew of all kinds was already trying to extinguish fires near the more important places of the ship. But as soon as they had received the news of the Phoenix being near they immediately tried sending signals in hopes of getting contact with the ship. And for there luck they had succeeded! Even if it was via Abel and Qwark first. "This is Drop ship 3G and 8H we are about to dock at gates seven and nine. Please instruct further orders."

The ships were given instructions to dock as wounded and personal got on the ships. They had been fortunate to not have been whipped out. But ratchet was wondering how this could have happened! No ship of the navy was weak by far. And even the most strongest of weaponry had trouble shooting trough the shields let alone dent the hull. "I'm going towards the hangar bay I want to find out what the hell is going on here!" Ratchet said furious walking away. He knew that it could have been the GIRL once again… And if _they _are the cause then by God he would strike back even if meant disobeying orders from the President himself! He rushed towards the hangar as fast as he could with his walking stick. Even almost breaking a leg by doing so!

Meanwhile at the hangar itself, 3G was putting of the first of the survivors, wounded were taken into care by the doctors and the others just stood in awe as they admired the Phoenix. Some had seen it, but others knew it only trough tales. It was a sight to behold indeed! "Why is Drop ship 8H not back yet?" demanded one of the officers of the Falcon, as he snorted towards one of the lower ranking crew members. "Sir I…I…well we don't know yet! There taking a bit more time then usual perhaps something is amiss?" the poor chap was sweating like an ox in summer. The officer decided to drop the matter as soon as he saw Ratchet, demanding what had happened. His answer was short and simple, he did not know. But after an hour of bickering, the ship returned with the last of the passengers and the captain ratchet wished to speak with!

Captain Alden was glad to be of service to ratchet and that the phoenix had received there signal, which made the Lombax chuckle a bit as it was by pure luck. "So what happened then? Because such a heavy beating on your ship?" ratchet wondered what could have done such devastation, especially to a cruiser of the Galactic navy. "It where the Robonoids! Darn bastards had been waiting for us!" as the Cazar slammed his fists on the table creating a small dent. "So it's true! I was correct… But how?" "I…I don't know, we had been informed that they would attack Novalis so we had our orders to take off with several ships towa…" "What several ships? There is only ship here." Ratchet's eyes went wider as he figured what must have happened. "All those men…GONE!" cried the captain as he began to remember what happened. "We had arrived at the planet, the Falcon alongside with the Sparrow and Eagle… The mission was simple, secure the planet and set up an ambush for the GIRL." His gaze diverted towards the window, looking outside at the ship that was once his own.

Abel along with Qwark, Skidd and Al listened to the story that captain Alden was telling them. Well it wasn't like anything needed to be done, the wounded were taken care of, all missions had been cancelled and the ship was almost ready. And they too wanted to know what had happened!

"I still can't believe it, how on Solana did they get that much firepower? It's true that the Robonoids have more strength the average Ranger but this was insane!" he stopped as ratchet palced a hand on his shoulder urging him to go on. They would soon have the logs of the computer but they wanted to know it and the captain wanted nothing less then to tell the story. "Once we arrived we began sending out some recon ships, the landed without any resistance… Hell! We even believed the planet to be empty, no signs of struggle anywhere so we sended in more ships. But then, ooooh the massacre that began then. The computers registered several energy signatures coming from the surface, before we even knew what was going on the beams had already been fired at us. The Eagle and the Sparrow failed to raise there shields up in time as they were vaporised in front of our very own eyes! We had the more luck then they as our hull could withstand the initial impact for a few seconds, then the shield took the hit… On the planet the same thing must have happened as we lost connection right after we had been struck." Clank stepped into the room holding a black box, at which Ratchet nodded… The small robot came towards the two captains as he gave his friend the black device. "How did you escape then?" "We were able to fix our own engines right before there second attack commenced. If we had waited only by milicubit we would have been destroyed as well… But please I wish to get some rest now." Asked Alden as he began to go towards the door. Once he had left ratchet began to get furious, something Abel had never seen tough not like this.

"prepare this ship! We are going on a hunt!" he said almost yelling it out. "Those menacing robots will not get away with this!... I swear it!!"


End file.
